White tabs under waistcoat

[Noble Savage]

Trying to understand what these white tabs are supposed to be:


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b9/ab/af ... 57729a.jpg

Leonard Lauder, Carolyn Murphy at the Met Gala

[Concordia]

Appear to be braces not tucked in.

[Noble Savage]

Appear to be braces not tucked in.

Odd

[andy57]

I guess when you're the 44th wealthiest person in the world, you can wear your braces any damn way you please.

[Noble Savage]

Now that I've looked at it several times, it appears to me to be tabs from the waistcoat...

I another time, it might have inspired the Order of the Loose Waistcoat Tab.

[andy57]

Now that I've looked at it several times, it appears to me to be tabs from the waistcoat...

I another time, it might have inspired the Order of the Loose Waistcoat Tab.

I may be displaying some ignorance here, but what waistcoats have tabs like that?

[couch]

I've never seen this myself, but I do recall a commenter on some menswear forum saying that his evening waistcoat had, instead of the single tab used to fasten to a button inside the waistband of the trouser, two of them. These were spaced to attach to the braces buttons. The intent was to transmit any tension during movement up to the shoulders, thus avoiding any possibility of a central tab's pulling down and distorting the exposed closing portion of the waistcoat. (This suggests to me a waistcoat with a wider neck/back than now usual, or a waistcoat for a dinner jacket.) If Lauder's waistcoat had a similar arrangement (apparently unused) the tabs would still seem unusually long. I suppose he might have had them attached to buttons on the outside of the trouser waistband for comfort, in which case the longer, finished ends might well show (though unsightly in my view). It's also possible (hard to tell from the photo) that he has left extra length on the braces straps visible outside the trouser rather than tucked in. I've certainly seen this (but tucked in) on boxcloth braces worn with lounge suits. I have not been able to discover any historical precedent for such visible tabs under waistcoats, other than the single flat ribbon component of a Regency watch fob. There does appear to be a fair amount of variation over the last century in strategies for attaching the shirt/waistcoat/trousers to keep things together. Mr. Mundy writes that Budd provides a tab with two buttonholes on the shirt, and recommends passing it through "the loop" on the waistcoat and attaching to a button on the trouser waistband (so one tab doing for both shirt and waist covering).