I picked three tailored slacks that are great to style neatly for work: RECTO's WIDE FIT STRAIGHT PANTS (BLACK), AMOMENTO's Men's Wool Banding Pants, Charcoal, and RECTO's FLARE FIT SUIT PANTS (SEPIA). As the demure mood spreads, basic pants that fall cleanly in straight lines without excessive details are taking the top spots on lists these days. All three have a sharp crease running straight down the center of each leg, so they are easy to wear neatly styled under a jacket or clean-cut shirt.
The sharp crease running straight down the center of tailored pants—that is, the center crease—began in the late 19th century with Britain's Edward 7. When the Prince of Wales, Edward, was caught in a sudden rain shower outdoors, he left his trousers with a country tailor to dry. The tailor handed them back pressed flat, which created an unprecedented flat crease. At the time, round, crease-free wide-leg pants were standard, but when the prince, a trendsetter in high society, appeared wearing those sharp lines, the aristocracy embraced them as a sophisticated style and they became a trend.
An accidental press mark made while dodging the rain has now become the most classic standard for judging a neat work look. Shall we narrow down the fit or color a bit more among the three pairs we picked?
↳ Find some in the KRW 100,000s
I picked three pairs of pants from the list to fit a budget in the KRW 100,000s: the smoothly flaring INSILENCE 울 세미 플레어 팬츠 BLACK, MARGESHERWOOD's STRIPE BUTTON TROUSERS_navy with pinstripes and button accents, and MARGESHERWOOD's CROPPED PANTS_charcoal with a neat length. Looking at recent lists, the weight is shifting toward designs that neatly highlight silhouette lines rather than purely baggy, oversized fits.
There is a rather ironic history behind the name trousers. Ancient Romans viewed the draped toga as a symbol of civilization, looking down on pants that wrap each leg separately as lowly garments worn by barbarians like the Celts, and even banned pants in the city of Rome. However, Roman soldiers pushed into the harsh northern cold could not bear the freezing temperatures and secretly started slipping on braccae, the leg wraps worn by the local Celts. As these garments spread after practicality won out, they took on a plural noun form for slipping on two legs, becoming today's trousers.
In the end, pants spread from the most practical need: withstanding the cold wind. Each of the three pants has its own distinct charm, so which criteria should we use to narrow down the next list?
↳ With high wool content
I picked three bottoms with high wool content: INSILENCE's 울 세미 플레어 팬츠 BLACK, plus MOONDAL's Mono Half Pants in Black and Mono Half Pants in Charcoal. The INSILENCE pants feature a semi-flare fit that releases gently below the knee without overdoing it, making legs look straight and long.
The white suit worn by John Travolta in the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever is the definitive flare silhouette symbolizing the 70s disco craze. The high-waisted flare pants extending boldly from the waistline down to the hems accentuated dynamic choreography even more on the illuminated dance floor. The bursting passion of youths of that era who headed to dance floors every weekend to escape their bleak everyday lives was captured completely in those striking hems.
Unlike the dramatic bell-bottoms of the disco era, the flare pants coming out today have returned with a restrained silhouette that is easy to wear neatly in daily life. Now, shall we narrow it down to only long pants from here, unify them in black, or take another look around in a wide fit?
Final Selected Products
