The Male 'Fashion' Thread III

that is wrong. Waistcoats were designed to have the bottom undone due to the king being so fat he couldn't do his up, so everyone stopped doing their bottom button and eventually waistcoats came to be cut so they were not meant to be done up. You can see the horrible pulls in them when people force the bottom button closed on a proper waistcoat.

Not when you buy the correct size...

I've never, ever had a problem with creased waistcoats when doing the bottom button up, they've all fitted fine.

That's how everyone wears them when they come in store and try them on as well.

Oh well, as I said, each to their own.

As I have been discussing in the blazer thread, it is only as much an 'each to their own' as that they are doing it factually wrong due to a preconceived idea and going against what the tailors designed them to be worn like. It is like how people used to put shirt collars over the suit lapels. They did it because in their opinion it looked better but it was still factually wrong for how a suit was meant to be worn.

If you went round to the likes of Huntsman and saw what they were doing and discussed it with them you would be better able to see why the botton button being closed is incorrect for the waistcoats construction.

Putting your shirt collar over your suit lapel makes you look like a moron. Doing the waistcoat button up is hardly the same...

The majority of people I've seen at proms/wedding/formal events I've been to have done it up, and in my opinion it looks better. There's nothing wrong it it. Likewise, there's nothing wrong with having it undone, I just don't think it looks as good.

Putting your shirt collar over your suit lapel makes you look like a moron. Doing the waistcoat button up is hardly the same...

The majority of people I've seen at proms/wedding/formal events I've been to have done it up, and in my opinion it looks better. There's nothing wrong it it. Likewise, there's nothing wrong with having it undone, I just don't think it looks as good.

Just because people do it doesn't make it right though. Speak to any bespoke tailor and he will tell you that it is an incorrect way to button a waistcoat.

To be fair if you go and look at some designer waistcoats, they're often designed in such a way that to do up the bottom button would be impossible.

eg: http://www.mrporter.com/product/176513

Yes, but if you look at the normal placing of the buttons, they're all done up.

Most waistcoats you find on the high street don't have that extra button

That is how a waistcoat should be worn.

Yes, but if you look at the normal placing of the buttons, they're all done up.

Most waistcoats you find on the high street don't have that extra button

That is how a waistcoat should be worn.

Well I wear mine differently & it suits me better. Lock me up.

Like this one: http://www.burton.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=33052&storeId=12551&productId=5072485&langId=-1&cmpId=gbase&viewAllFlag=false&sort_field=Relevance&beginIndex=1&pageSize=20&categoryId=209128&parent_categoryId=208978

You can't compare Burton to Saville Row tailors or high-end designers though.

I know you prefer cheap mass-produced fashion like Topman, H&M and Next but these places sacrifice both quality and design for their low prices.

This "don't do up the bottom button because 100 years ago king so-and-so was too fat to do his up" rule is about as pointless and stupid as "don't split the infinitive" and "its not less, its fewer". Can we not just move on with our lives?

Its not a rule for rules sake it is how proper waistcoats are cut, so to do the bottom button up completely ruins the cut of the waiscoat. It isn't being done out of tradition, it is being cut that way because of tradition.

Almost every item of clothing comes from some tradition that means it is cut a certain way now, to just throw all that out by saying the rules are pointless is a comment that is actually pointless.

Certain designers are now cutting their waistcoats in such a way that forces this rather odd rule upon people. Its not a traditional cut of waistcoat in which the bottom button can't be done up, that's an entirely new fad.

I don't like this stupid trend and I look forward to it disappearing sooner rather than later. I don't really like the rule, I would be happy if people just forgot about it.

It's been happening for over 100 years, pretty much the opposite of an entirely new fad, no?