Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:46 pm
A waistcoat is a great idea, I don't always wear one but they add a lot of versatility to a garment. I favor lapels on the waistcoat, they add a finish when the jacket isn't worn. Waistcoats without lapels look fine under a coat but miss something when the coat is off.
Edwin Deboise at Steed cuts a six button waistcoat with four welted pockets and two small pleats vertically between the pockets on either side to give it some shape across the waist. The subtle pleats echo the larger pleats of the trousers that fall away below the waistcoats points, extending the vertical line. Six true buttons and holes in a vertical line, none of this falsity of a button placed on the cutaway. Leaving the lowest button unfastened helps the waistcoat open a touch when seated and doesn't present much affectation.
The styling of the lapels is perhaps the most interesting choice, with the cloth's pattern providing the best direction on which way to go. Lapels can be "pasted on" to follow the cloth's pattern which is a good approach for window panes and plaids. They can also be made in two pieces a side echoing the pattern of the lapel and collar of the coat. Here, they are "turned" over like the lapels of the coat so that the pattern direction changes or pasted on to match the background pattern. I favor the former approach of contrasting the pattern for stripes and plains.
A last decision relates to the construction of the blade of the lapel if the pattern direction is changed, whether it is grown out of the body of the waistcoat (turned from its backing) or attached as a separate piece. Having the lapel truly turned from the body of the waistcoat, like the coat, seems the purest approach but it adds an additional layer of cloth and I like the lapel on the waistcoat to be truly flat turned as opposed to exhibiting the roll that we covet on the coat. However, both approaches have merits and my advice is would be to ask your tailor for his or her approach.
Backings deserve discussion as well. My waistcoats are all backed with the same bemberg or emerzine as the related coat. I have no attraction to a cloth backing, thinking that it would be very hot, stiff and bulky. On the subject of color, the waistcoat worn without the coat features the lining and suggests a quieter rather than a louder lining. The issue is really about coordinating with shirts and ties. The wonderful periwinkle color that is fun under your light gray flannel can become more problematic when the coat is off and the periwinkle is on display. The problem is not with the color per se, more the limiting nature of adding a color that now must be accommodated when picking shirts and ties. Like a lot of decisions in wardrobe, look to variations in tone and texture as opposed to wholesale changes in color. Contrast is a critical point of dressing but it seems best realized through the largest elements, the cloth, or the smaller details of shirt and tie.
So lots of choices, get the waistcoat.
- there has been a thread a while ago, where Michael Alden posted a nice picture with different waistcoat styles: http://www.thelondonlounge.net/forum/vi ... sts#p43904