Pleats are tricky creatures, little bits of design that are hard to construct and even trickier to maintain. The pleat is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference. In other words, a pleat is a lot of work and requires plenty of fabric. So why is it that we discovered a profusion of cheap pleats after being turned on to a particular Old Navy sateen pleated skirt thanks to community member Stained Couture. The concept just doens't make sense. Economizing fabric keeps prices down for the fast fashion retailers so why on earth would they choose to construct a garment that requires an excess of fabric? Lord knows cheap fabric isn't going to hold a pleat especially well and we don't even want to get into just how the arrived at the delightful little tucks via some crazy CAD pattern making creation. And yet there they are in a tidy row at retailers from Forever 21 to Old Navy just begging us to add a little kick to down and out wardrobes. We have enough trouble keeping the pleats in our Miu Miu school girl skirt looking crisp and fresh and the damn thing was made by artisans in Italy with only the finest textiles. We can't even imagine the wrinkling, unraveling, and potential disasters that could be involved in cheaply stapled pleats. And yet somehow we want to pair these with our long tanks and giggly insouciantly, yes of course we deliberately bought the cheap versions just think how they will deconstruct so artfully!