The odd vest can take three forms if you will, those being:
- unrelated to jacket or trousers
- matching vest and jacket with contrasting trousers as worn by André Churchwell in the photo, or
- matching trousers and vest with contrasting jacket.
Matching nothing, the truly odd odd vest is by far the most common sight but let me recommend to you the other alternatives. Either requires the vest to be made at the same time as the trousers or jacket in question and for that very reason is rare enough to add interest to the day's clothing.
Photo by Jenny Cao
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6 comments:
It's an absolutely smashing look and probably the very best reason for always having your suits made up as three piece. This is especially true if you make the effort to coordinate all the suits so as to allow the kind of mix and match so ably described in this blog. Well done, sir.
Thanks for the nice photo of Mr Churchwell…
But would you recommend rather that if you match the jacket and waistcoat you should also make sure the trousers are different not just in color and pattern but also in texture? That way people don’t think you’ve forgotten the trousers to the suit? I think a previous post (‘Reader Questions from Harry on 1 January 2007’) put forth that idea.
Does having matching vest and jacket make it top-heavy? Matching trousers to waistcoat creates a nice vertical line of continuity (‘to pull the viewers’ eyes up to the face’, as you recommended in ‘Color Balance’), but having both match on top cuts the person in half?
I have to agree with AO - having the waistcoat and jacket match but the look with odd trousers is jarring; matching the waistcoat and trousers with an odd jacket would be interesting and of course, the classic odd waistcoat is fine. Just my two cents....
This article makes an interesting and well-taken point; however, I have found that there is too little information out there on how to wear a 'traditional' odd waistcoat (matching neither trousers nor jacket), so let me put in a request for more ideas on this theme!
That really is a great photo of a smashing outfit. I'd never considered matching a light jacket and vest (strangely, I usually think of matching vests strictly as parts of navy or grey 3-pieces). So, thanks for the article and the inspiration.
Breaking up the parts of a suit will always be a challenge, and it seems that some people think that the well-turned-out good doctor did not do as well as he normally does.
My only quibble is in keeping with the other comments here: perhaps darker trousers would have pulled the viewer's eyes up more. Perhaps a lighter-colored shirt would have helped with that, too, though the shirt otherwise works well, and would definitely be a non-issue with the full suit.
As always, I find these shots give me more ideas to work with.
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