The London Lounge

What are the generally accepted customs surrounding matching a waistcoat with an outfit? Does anyone wear them with any frequency?

I like to wear an odd waistcoat with a suit. Cream linen goes well with gray and blue worsted, as does dove gray and buff.

I wear waistcoats throughout the winter months and I believe that how one wears them is very much a matter of individual preference and environment. When attending client meetings I wear suits (often charcoal flannel - my favourite) with plain doeskin waistcoats from a richly coloured range as a contrast, because I find three piece suits too formal for my work which is creative. However I am considering a three piece tweed suit at some stage. The colours are of my waistcoats are - plum red, forest green, golden fawn, french grey and camel - and because they are so versatile I wear them with my sports jackets and tweed jackets at weekends also, whether they are teamed with dress trousers or jeans.

There is a producer of Doeskin in the UK that still makes the cloth the way it was made centuries ago. It is a lovely cloth to wear and one a tailor loves to sew.

I have my eyes on a wine red Doeskin that could very well become an unlined 3B sportscoat with patch pockets; and it has occured to me to use the same material for a host's DJ with self facing shawl lapels.

Doeskin vests in the colors Vettriano man has mentioned are superb additions to a wardrobe. They can be combined in so many ways but due to their highly milled, rough finish they are especially pleasing with flannels and tweeds.

My preferred odd waistcoats, when worn with a town suit, are linen or wool, single or double-breasted with lapels. For these purposes I have a d/b linen waistcoat in buff, s/b linen waistcoats in purple and cream respectively, and a grey wool d/b. Some of these are illustrated below:

http://uk.geocities.com/anthony_hugh_jo ... coats.html

For wear with tweed I have doeskin waistcoats in lightish green, wine, caramel (with lapels) and (moving aside from doeskin) two different checks.

I very much agree with previous observations as to what goes with what; I particularly like blue and buff as a combination, as did Beau Brummell I believe! The only thing I would add is that it is probably preferable that the waistcoat be lighter than the suit and, this being so, that it may have the general effect of lowering the formality of the ensemble slightly. This may or may not be of concern, depending upon the context in which you would be wearing it.

What color odd waistcoat would you pair with a heavy (must be at least 16 ounce) black and white PoW plaid with a bright blue double windowpane? (SB 2-button notch, if that matters. The overall effect of the suit is rather a light gray, but up close the pattern is very sharp; not fuzzy in the least.)

In Etutee's posting on Late Winter/early Spring there were some examples of grey with blue over plaid and gey glen plaid mated with fawn or off-white linen waistcoats. You could also match the blue of the over plaid.

David V wrote:In Etutee's posting on Late Winter/early Spring there were some examples of grey with blue over plaid and gey glen plaid mated with fawn or off-white linen waistcoats. You could also match the blue of the over plaid.

I would concur with David V - I wonder also if a plain grey doeskin might work?

Linen with a 16 ounce winter suit does not seem right to me. I though about plain gray doeskin. It may be the best option. I worry that it might look too much like a formal vest. I'm still on the fence, I guess.

Linen! What was I thinking...Spring!
I would still go with a winter white or a blue similar to the over plaid. Some thing to contrast the suit.

manton wrote:Linen with a 16 ounce winter suit does not seem right to me. I though about plain gray doeskin. It may be the best option. I worry that it might look too much like a formal vest. I'm still on the fence, I guess.

I think that if the doeskin was fairly "heavy" in appearance it might work whilst avoiding the formal vest appearance. Or perhaps a heavyweight linen (if such a thing might be got?) might work. Whilst linen in theory doesn't work as a winter fabric, my purple linen waiscoat, a modern effort by Hackett, does get wheeled out in the winter months when I am so moved, and doesn't feel incongruous worn with suits, morning coats and strollers.

The blue overplaid is seriously bright, sort of azure. That would be too much, I think.

What might work very well, however, is the color that Thurston calls "saxe blue" in their boxcloth braces. Does any cloth merchant sell that in doeskin?

manton wrote:The blue overplaid is seriously bright, sort of azure. That would be too much, I think.

What might work very well, however, is the color that Thurston calls "saxe blue" in their boxcloth braces. Does any cloth merchant sell that in doeskin?

Pakeman Catto and Carter offered, last season, linen waistcoats in blue, which I rather coveted. It was more of a powder blue, so sound as though it would not work. A waistcoat in saxe blue doeskin sounds very handsome.

Manton,

O'Brian and Forrester give us the nelsonian tadition of the blue jacket with buff waistcoat. Recognising your suit as being blue in honor of the blue overpane (which should give a blue-ish cast to the gray), I recommend investigating the buff colors from cream to the most toasted almond.

Every generation balances these colors but there is no question, it's a good look.

DDM