Dear Mr. Crompton,
I am hoping to follow up quickly on a blog post of yours concerning pleats.
I’m having a bespoke suit made up from a Neapolitan tailor, and can’t decide on whether to go with pleats.
Do you have any insight about pleats in the context of bespoke suits? I’m concerned the pleats will make the pants look less sharp, but the tailor thinks the pleats will make for a more elegant look.
Thank you very much!
Best regards,
Hugh
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Hi Hugh,
The role of pleats is to give extra fullness in the hips and seat of the trouser, so that it is easier to move the legs and use the pockets. When motionless or not using those pockets, the pleats should – if well cut – fall neatly back into place, maintaining a sharp line to the trouser. You can see why it they are an attractive device.
Most of the time, however, they are not necessary unless you wear your trousers high (on the natural waist, around your belly button) or have a rather fuller figure. In those cases, the trousers have rather more to work around – your hip bones or some body fat, respectively. With a regular or slim body shape the effect is reduced.
I have a relatively large seat and thighs from cycling and various other sports, which might make pleats useful, but I have ever found them necessary. Pleats will always make the trouser line consistently sharper, and I can see how a tailor would say they are therefore more elegant. But you have to balance that against whether you dislike the look from a style point of view, and I do. Given that, my slim figure and preference for wearing trousers on the hip, I go for flat fronts.
If those same things apply to you, I would go the same way.
I hope that’s helpful
Simon
Photo: The Armoury Tumblr. Note Ethan’s fantastic colour combination of purple stripe, charcoal trouser and multi-checked tweed.
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Agree
Agreement again
Interesting comments altogether. Cannot agree more.
To clarify, are you saying that, if one wears trousers at the natural waist, one must have pleats, regardless of slimness? Do you have an opinion on the direction and number of pleats, if there must be pleats?
No, not that the trousers must have pleats, but that there is often more of a functional need for them. It depends on body shape too, as with everything else.
I tend to prefer single backward-facing pleats, but that’s generally because I don’t like pleats as much. They are less unusual and subtler
If you tend to wear your pants lower than your natural waist or at your hips, should you avoid pleats?
There’s less of a need for them, but if you want more fullness there they can still be useful
Hi Simon,
I’ve heard that you can reinforce a pleat…what does that entail and will it help with preventing the pleat from opening up?
Would you recommend single pleats on natural-waist-high trousers with
some flare on someone who is quite slim (waist 75 cm, say) and has a small
“seat”? If so, what would you say is the limit to how deep they could
reasonably be?
Yes that could work well, though I’d say the biggest reason to do it would be style, whether you like them or not. As to depth, best to talk to the tailor. It will be relatibe to your other measures to some extent
PS. I like the idea of pleats, but worry that they will cause a sloppy seat.
No, they shouldn’t affect the fit through the back. They will affect the front, for example when you sit down, but not the back