Q My wife and I were just on vacation in Santa Fe for its 100th Annual Indian Market and were lucky enough to get tickets to a fashion show. Like the fashion shows you always describe from Fashion Week, there were a lot of ridiculous elements, but you also say they relate to forthcoming trends.

One thing stood out. There were a lot of male models wearing pants with pleats. They were (of course) in good shape, so the pleats weren’t about disguising weight. Is this style returning?

A Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. Especially in the upscale men’s clothing market. As an example, Paul Stuart’s fashion-forward Phineas Cole line has introduced what it calls a new “fashion pleat.” It is a single, small inverted pleat on a slim-cut trouser, rather than the old double pleats that face out on full-cut trousers. What you saw in what sounds like a fun show can definitely be applied to your own clothing.

Today’s take on pleated pants has little resemblance to the pants men wore in the ’80s. Back then, pleats were popular as middle-manager garb. By the mid-’90s, flat-front trousers became the norm. Then, in the early 2000s, the new skinny-fit look championed by the super-forward designer, Thom Browne, ended the acceptability of pleats. They were relegated to granddad fashion. For well over a decade, no man of style would wear them. But starting around the end of 2016, some older styles began to appear on the scene. If you’re thinking about buying a pair of modern pleated trousers,…