Peak lapel DB waistcoat with SB notch lapel coat?

[ottovbvs]

It's all so much a matter of personal taste isn't it. Personally I don't like a notch lapelled SB waistcoat with a notch lapelled SB suit. It's just too fussy somehow.The waistcoat without reveres looks cleaner to me. Again personally I'd never buy a DB suit with a waistcoat. It's just too much and rather uncomfortable I'd have thought although I've never worn this combo. However, the DB waistcoat with the peaked lapel SB jacket looks great just as it does with a morning coat. It's personal I suppose but I'd only ever have a shawl collar on a DB waistcoat. Last spring I had a lighter weight mid grey flannel suit made in this combo ie. SB peaked lapel jacket and shawl collar DB waistcoat and it looks fantastic although a tiniest bit theatrical so you have to be a bit selective about when you wear it or someone might confuse you with Sir John Gielguid. If in doubt you can always drop the waistcoat. But for the right occasion and with the right collar (tunic shirt and stiff detachable collar the sort you'd wear with morning dress) it's blow away. Women react very positively I find.

[ottovbvs]

I note the cited view that if a SB coat with notch lapels is worn with a DB waistcoat, the waistcoat should have shawl lapels (or perhaps no lapels), and that a DB waistcoat with peak lapels is properly worn only with a SB coat with peak lapels. I don't understand the logic however. The waistcoat is worn under the coat, so the lapel configuration only shows when the wearer has taken the coat off. Secondly, the notch lapel still has sharp angles, so I don't really see the fight with a peaked lapel waistcoat.

Below is a link to a very smart coat and waistcoat combination in a very A&S looking style (worn by Alistair Sinclair, UK Air Minister in 1941). This is what I have in mind commissioning. From the look one cannot tell whether the waistcoat is SB or DB.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l? ... n%26sa%3DG

It looks pretty good I must say although I like the peaked lapel jacket personally. Sir Archie (sic) Sinclair alway wore DB waistcoats as did his contemporary Anthony Eden usually although he favored the peaked lapel SB jacket. I 've tried to find a pic of Eden but haven't been able to find one. When you wear a DB waistcoat you're usually going to have jacket open and if you have a nice pocket watch and chain suspended between the lower pockets it completes the picture. There's a pic of the Duke of Argyll in this configuration around somewhere taken in about 1952 and it looks cool.

[ottovbvs]

I note the cited view that if a SB coat with notch lapels is worn with a DB waistcoat, the waistcoat should have shawl lapels (or perhaps no lapels), and that a DB waistcoat with peak lapels is properly worn only with a SB coat with peak lapels. I don't understand the logic however. The waistcoat is worn under the coat, so the lapel configuration only shows when the wearer has taken the coat off. Secondly, the notch lapel still has sharp angles, so I don't really see the fight with a peaked lapel waistcoat.

Below is a link to a very smart coat and waistcoat combination in a very A&S looking style (worn by Alistair Sinclair, UK Air Minister in 1941). This is what I have in mind commissioning. From the look one cannot tell whether the waistcoat is SB or DB.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l? ... n%26sa%3DG

PS. the waistcoat is definitely DB six button with shawl collar. Exactly what a db waistcoat should look like.

[ottovbvs]

I note the cited view that if a SB coat with notch lapels is worn with a DB waistcoat, the waistcoat should have shawl lapels (or perhaps no lapels), and that a DB waistcoat with peak lapels is properly worn only with a SB coat with peak lapels. I don't understand the logic however. The waistcoat is worn under the coat, so the lapel configuration only shows when the wearer has taken the coat off. Secondly, the notch lapel still has sharp angles, so I don't really see the fight with a peaked lapel waistcoat.

Below is a link to a very smart coat and waistcoat combination in a very A&S looking style (worn by Alistair Sinclair, UK Air Minister in 1941). This is what I have in mind commissioning. From the look one cannot tell whether the waistcoat is SB or DB.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l? ... n%26sa%3DG

Link to Eden pic in DB waistcoat. The size of his jacket lapels are a bit OTT but you get the idea. Again as in Archibald Sinclair pic a shawl collar.
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l? ... n%26sa%3DN

It looks pretty good I must say although I like the peaked lapel jacket personally. Sir Archie (sic) Sinclair alway wore DB waistcoats as did his contemporary Anthony Eden usually although he favored the peaked lapel SB jacket. I 've tried to find a pic of Eden but haven't been able to find one. When you wear a DB waistcoat you're usually going to have jacket open and if you have a nice pocket watch and chain suspended between the lower pockets it completes the picture. There's a pic of the Duke of Argyll in this configuration around somewhere taken in about 1952 and it looks cool.

[TheCormac]

A single button peak lapel jacket w/o slits; doesn't that make it a stroller, Sir?

I bespoke last year.
...<snipped>...

Happy Stroller,

I am confused by your post. By "slits" do you mean vents? It was my understanding that a stroller jacket (unlike traditional dinner jackets) could be vented. Am I misinformed?

[yachtie]

A single button peak lapel jacket w/o slits; doesn't that make it a stroller, Sir?

I bespoke last year.
...<snipped>...

Happy Stroller,

I am confused by your post. By "slits" do you mean vents? It was my understanding that a stroller jacket (unlike traditional dinner jackets) could be vented. Am I misinformed?

No, you're not.

[Sator]

There are lounge jackets, Norfolk jackets, and Spencer jackets. No such a beast as a "(s)troller jacket" exists.

[Pelham]

There are lounge jackets, Norfolk jackets, and Spencer jackets. No such a beast as a "(s)troller jacket" exists.

And by that you mean that the jacket worn as part of a "stroller" outfit had no structural or design differences to a lounge coat, correct?

[Sator]

Also, not being American, I don't believe there is such a thing as a "(s)troller", which I find a rather frivolous term (don't you push babies around in them in the US?). The moment you mention it, you get all sorts of snide remarks about waxed and twirled moustaches, frock coats, top hats etc. It is a cue for the troller to crack many a bad joke. That is why I call it a "(s)troller".

The only thing I can say is that black lounge coats should be worn with striped trousers, except at funerals.

[Pelham]

Also, not being American, I don't believe there is such a thing as a "(s)troller", which I find a rather frivolous term (don't you push babies around in them in the US?). The moment you mention it, you get all sorts of snide remarks about waxed and twirled moustaches, frock coats, top hats etc. It is a cue for the troller to crack many a bad joke. That is why I call it a "(s)troller".

The only thing I can say is that black lounge coats should be worn with striped trousers, except at funerals.

Hailing from Canada, I wouldn't know either. ; ) This forum is the first I'd heard of the item. The idea of black lounge coats with striped trousers does sound rather smart even today, and I doubt it would be identified as archaic by the vast majority of onlookers, because it just wasn't worn commonly enough to become solidly identified with a past age. I admit I'm tempted.

What was the proper term in Britain?

[Sator]

What was the proper term in Britain?

Black lounge coat with striped trousers.

It is traditionally considered informal dress and just another variant on lounge suits, albeit a bit spiffier. Apparently, in the City London, there was time they were worn with top hats.

[Prof. Pennybags]

I guess I get to kill two birds with one stone here

below is a pic ca. 1902 (Butch Cassidys gang). As you see the three men in the centre are wearing collarless DB waistcoats and the gentleman centre front is wearing (more than likely) a black lounge with subdued stripes.