It’s back to school, back to work, back to the office time. The temperature’s dropped, the sun is reining in her once-frequent appearances and the sanguine laziness of summer is all but a distant memory.

Granted, you may look back fondly on a time when you were lounging alfresco with a glass of something cold in hand, but there are hidden virtues to be found lying in the wings of autumn and its sharper, colder, more bracing sibling, winter.  

Layers get cosier, shoes get more snuggly and trousers get warmer. Indeed, it’s particularly with trousers in mind that I come bearing good news, for there’s one pair that’s gained ubiquity in recent months and is worthy of every bit of attention, praise and acclaim that’s been heaped on it. The best part? They’ll give you change from £40 but will be the most seamlessly expensive-looking trousers you will find on the high street.       

The pair in question is the pleated wide-leg trouser from Uniqlo – a style that first began doing the rounds when the Japanese label joined forces with cult pared-back label Marni earlier this year. Not only did the collaboration struggle to stay in stock both online and in-store, but the chino-style trousers became an instant hit. 

Once they’d sold out, eagle-eyed fashion fans began searching for the next-best thing, which turned out to be Uniqlo’s own-brand pleated wide-leg trousers, the hashtag of which has been viewed more than 932,200 times on TikTok alone. Have a single scroll through fashion TikTok, in fact, and you’ll find yourself inundated with iterations of the cult trousers in all of its black, navy and creamy caramel-coloured hues. Back to work, but make it chicer than ever before.

Shop Uniqlo Pleated Wide-Leg Trousers, £34.90.

Images: Getty, Uniqlo