The Necessity Of A Vest?

[doughboy]

Way to cut to the chase Dan! Keyword is "requirement" Answer: No

[kealbo]

I discovered an interesting "fact".While researchjin fabric and patterns so my niece could sew her dear old uncle a vest ,I was informed that the time of day the vest was worn dictated the button material.I was ready to purchase button molds for covered buttons,and the pattern informed me that those were not proper for the morning/mid-day wearing of the garment,that I would need bone,glass,or metel buttons.Fabric-covered were proper only at night and in formal wear.nesassary,or not,I am sticking by what I was first taught,That suspenders and/or braces were considered undergarments and if toy wanted to remove your coat in public,a vest was needed so as not to display your "undies".My only question is,how relaxed was this societal rule in the exclusive company of other men
?

[delawaric]

I am sticking by what I was first taught,That suspenders and/or braces were considered undergarments and if toy wanted to remove your coat in public,a vest was needed so as not to display your "undies".My only question is,how relaxed was this societal rule in the exclusive company of other men
?

My wife's Great,Great,Great Grandfather Gardner Woods sure didn't mind anyone seeing him in his "undies" when he posed for this photo. Heck he even has chest hair showing.

[TheQM]

Very interesting. I've never seen braces crossed in the front before. It would sure keep them from slipping off your shoulders.

[hanktrent]

Something I posted a while ago, from Moonlight, Abraham Lincoln and the Almanac Trial, by John Evangelist Walsh, 2000:

There's a description of Lincoln arguing a case in 1854 as described by "an eyewitness."

It came Lincoln's turn to speak. He... took off his coat... slowly took off his cravat... He then took off his vest, showing his one yarn suspender... (footnoted to A. Bergen, "Lincoln as a Lawyer," Journal of the American Bar Association, June 1926.)

Walsh says that at a trial four years later,

the casual disrobing act, again with emphasis on the yarn suspenders, also preceded any words, a fact vividly recalled by one of the jurors, John Brady. As the white-suited Lincoln approached the jury box, "he removed his coat, vest, and later, his stock, the old-fashioned necktie... his suspenders were home-made knitted ones, and finally as he warmed up to his subject one of the slipped from his shoulder, and he let it fall to his side where it remained until he had finished speaking. (footnoted to J. Gridley, "Lincoln's Defense of Duff Armstrong," Journal of the Illinois Historical Society, April 1910)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Radar]

My wife's Great,Great,Great Grandfather Gardner Woods sure didn't mind anyone seeing him in his "undies" when he posed for this photo. Heck he even has chest hair showing.

Interesting. I always thought that you crossed the braces in the back, not the front.

[RJSamp]

Fritz, if you cross them in back AND front the braces never slip off......a trick learned with powder pants whilst skiing deep powder in Utah....

[kealbo]

So,basically what we have here is another hard n fast rule that seems to be niether hard nor fast?

[RJSamp]

Well since the double buttons usually are in the front.....and the single buttons in the rear...maybe he reversed them for the daguerrotype image???

[Mint Julep]

So many assumptions based on a few photos and hearsay and some old fashioned etiquette books. This is laughable. People seem to fall into one of two categories: 1) if it isn't documented, it didn't happen; and 2) if I can find any slight justification for it, it was general practice.

RE: The vest: Not issued, so not "required". Otherwise, a happy little garment that is a source of extra storage and warmth. Styles, wearing practices, fabrics and buttons vary by individual.

Mister, if you want to wear a vest, then wear one. If you don't and someone is saying you must, suggest that they purchase the vest for you. Pretty certain that will end the discussion.

Great photo of the ancestor and another example of "never say never".