Are Pleated Pants Evil?

So I’ve been hearing a lot of pleated pant bashing lately. Some people seem inclined to lapse into hyperbole as they decry pleated pants. Pleated pants are the enemy, they say. Pleated pants are bad, they say. Hmmmm.

I do not have a strong opinion on this issue. I own both pleated and flat front pants. I wear both (at different times). I will defend pleated pants if I hear them being abused, but I will not go out of my way to sing their praise.

I’ve been collecting data from various social settings on the distribution of different styles of pants. I decided to create four categories:

Category 1. Pleated Pants. The category under fire. Controversial pleated pants. Includes pleated dress pants, slacks, corduroys, and khakis.

Category 2. Flat Front/Plain Front Pants. The alternative to pleats.

Category 3. Jeans. I decided to lump all jeans together. Technically I should separate designer jeans and regular jeans, but that distinction will be saved for a later study.

Category 4. Other. This is a veritable cornucopia of attire. Sweatpants, kilts, shorts, cargo pants, spandex, and nudists all fit here.

So here is the first part of the study. The distribution of lower attire worn by males between the ages of 12 and 100 in Evangelical churches in Pennsylvania during the month of September (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Distribution of lower attire on males (aged 12-100) in Evangelical churches in Pennsylvania during September

You’ll notice that jeans are the most frequently encountered lower attire. I observed a rather even distribution between designer and non-designer jeans.

Pleated pants were more common than flat fronted pants.

I suspect that the “Other” category would be much stronger during the summer months. I would predict a spike of shorts and kilts in June and July.

Distribution of lower attire will vary by, and even within, denominations. Age also plays a role, for subjects in the “Other” category are rarely older than 30. Along the same line, subjects older than 50 are almost always in either the “Pleated” or “Flat” categories.

Conclusions. Pleated pants are still acceptable in Evangelical churches in Pennsylvania during the month of September. Further study investigating the fashion sense of Evangelicals in Pennsylvania might be warranted before investing in new pleated pants.

Three Churches, One Service

Today the State College Evangelical Free Church, the State College Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, and the UnityChurch of Jesus Christ held a collective outdoor service. I took a few pictures:

I took this picture before the service started. You’ll notice the sky is looking quite blue. The weather was spectacular.

This picture was also taken before the start of the service. I wandered behind the stage and tried to get as much of the crowd as I could. I really wanted to climb up on the roof of the church to get a good shot of everyone, but I thought that might be distracting.

The stage was a trailer. This picture was taken before the service. Pastor Tober was giving a few general announcements.

Blair ran the main soundboard. Here he is making some last minute adjustments before the service started.

Steve ran the monitor board that was beside the stage.

Evangelical Freelance

Today I took my camera to church. State College E-Free will be launching a new website soon, and so photographs of the church (the people and the facilities) are needed. I really didn’t get many nice shots, the lighting was tough to work with. I have more experience taking pictures outdoors, so I found the dim interior to be a real challenge.

I shot this picture from the balcony at the beginning of the second service.