What a fantastic garment?? How can we not consider not wearing waistcoats in this day and age (after all when they look as good on the likes of David Gandy, you do start to have slightly more inspiration for the ways we can wear it)

King Charles ll originally introduced the waistcoat as part of the correct dress code during the restoration of the British monarchy (1660), being derived from the Persian vests seen by English visitors to the court of Shah Abbas (so the King really had the power to officially introduce a catwalk item and insist it will stay in Vogue no matter what…?)

So they say the “waistcoat” derives from cutting the coat at waist-level, since at that time tailors cut men’s formal coats well below the waist. The other theory was that as there was excess fabric from the cutting of 2-piece suits, the fabric would be tailored into a “waste-coat” in order to avoid any wastage

In thinking about this nearly 400 years later my thoughts are the first theory, as the overall look of a waistcoat has always been to be close to the waist and either complement the coat or as a stand alone piece and would again need to be cut closer to the waist and ultimately be much shorter in silhouette. In saying that a waistcoat can be a really handy garment that could be cut from the same amount of fabric as a 2-piece (especially for the slimmer gentleman)

Thoughts please…?

And so there is the question of “waistcoat etiquette” and the question of doing the bottom button up or leaving it undone (although there are 4 other theories that I have just seen and am now wondering even more??)

However if you do go to Savile Row and have the pleasure of meeting someone in the know, I believe they would tell you the simple rule:

With the jacket on, have the bottom button undone

Wearing the waistcoat on its own, do the bottom button up

Simple- but I see lots of professional images and they have the bottom button done up with the jacket on?? 

I guess in the fast paced world we all signed up to- there are rules and rules are there to be broken (and there are rules we never even knew about)

At Frazer Haart we would suggest as a first waistcoat to have a 5 or 6 button front (depending on the customer’s height), welted pockets are practical and 2 lower welted pockets work well. For the back a matching lining to the jacket looks great, or if there is a theme- you can again pick this up on the waistcoat back lining. On the flip side as the waistcoat back is rather on show and that slightly “out there” bright lining you have chosen, well… maybe too much for “full time” exposure, then we would recommend you go with a lining that matches the main fabric (navy lining on navy suit fabric for example)

Personally a waistcoat is a great way to be expressive and the fun really can be the bright lining and being the talk of the town… Hopefully not behind your back though!