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Retro Evening Wear

Vintage Waistcoats and Cummerbunds

Waistcoats

Regency Origins

The prototype for modern evening wear was the dark blue/black-and-white dress ensemble fashioned by Beau Brummell at the turn of the nineteenth century.  This included a single-breasted waistcoat of white marcella or black plain fabric that was cut straight at the bottom.  In the 1820s collars were introduced that were either notched or “en schal” (shawl).   

Evening waistcoat from early English Regency (1807)	1830 English "dress waistcoat"	1833 American waistcoat with colored under-waistcoat

 
Late in the 1920s dandies deviated from the formula when they developed a taste for waistcoat models in “all the colors of the rainbow” featuring lavish embroidery and rich plain or figured silks and satins. 

The garment also grew longer around this time leading to the return of the late eighteenth-century under-waistcoat.  At first this was a sparse undergarment meant to project just beyond the edges of the overlying version.  It then evolved into a full-blown torso covering with lapels, decorative buttons and gorgeous colored materials designed to contrast with the upper-waistcoat which was often left open at the top for better exposure.

All of these embellishments were highly visible thanks to the new style of tailcoat tailored to remain open in front.
 

Victorian Era

By the 1860s Victorian conservatism had overcome Regency flair and the evening waistcoat was generally cloth or silk and once again limited to black or white although British etiquette authorities advised that white was unfashionable and should be restricted to only the most formal of occasions.  The V-shaped openings were cut increasingly low while the waist became gradually higher so that by the 1850s the bottom was usually cut straight across instead of featuring points as it sometimes did earlier in the era. 

By mid-century the shawl collar was typical and hip pockets began to appear.  Buttons were either material covered or gilt or fancy stones.  A trouser loop was introduced to evening and wedding waistcoats in 1840.  The Regency under-waistcoat died out by the 1850s due to the aforementioned shortened waist of the overlying vest.  For a brief period it was sometimes replaced by the slipped waistcoat, a pseudo under-waistcoat now more commonly associated with morning dress.
 
In the mid-1880s the newly introduced of U- or shield-shaped openings were favored over the V shape partly because of their effectiveness at displaying the formal shirt front.  Single-breasted models were initially preferred but the double-breasted grew in favor from 1890.  Collars were usually shawl style although many models did not feature lapels (aka revers).

1854 English patterned dress waistcoat	1873 English slipped waistcoat featuring low cut	1890 English "dress vest" in black featuring new U shape

In England white piqué gradually ousted black fabric which became consigned to informal dinner wear.  Conversely, black waistcoats to match the dress suit were the norm in the United States where white versions were considered a luxurious alternative because of the associated laundering expense.
 
When the dinner jacket was introduced in the late Victorian era it was simply considered an informal substitute for the tailcoat and was therefore worn with the same accoutrements as prescribed for full dress including the standard white or black waistcoat.
 

Edwardian Era

The English preference for white piqué waistcoats with full dress caught on in America and by the end of World War I black waistcoats were becoming relegated to informal evening dress in that country too.  Double-breasted styles had become as popular as single-breasted and both began to develop pointed bottoms once again as their fronts followed the lines of the newly angled tailcoat fronts.  The U-shape opening remained the favorite style and shawl collars were almost universal.  An emerging trend was the matching of the waistcoat’s piqué pattern with that of the full-dress shirt and bow tie.  These sets of matching linens were custom-made and expensive and therefore had limited popularity at first.

circa 1902 English "dress vests"  in single-and double-breasted models, latter with U- and heart-shaped openings	from 1918 Vanity Fair article comparing flamboyant tuxedo vest on left with tasteful black grosgrain on right	1915 Brooks Brothers evening waistcoats with increasingly rare example of black vest being worn with full dress

 
With the informal dinner jacket there was at first a variety of choice: black wool to match the jacket, black or grey figured silk, or white linen.  As the era progressed the black wool option was increasingly preferred and the white full-dress model was increasingly prohibited.  This period also marked the beginning of the trend for black silk waistcoats to match the silk of the jacket’s lapel facings and the bow tie.  Cuts and styles were largely as for full-dress waistcoats although they were much less visible since dinner jackets were being worn closed by the 1910s.

1920s

During the Jazz Age white came to be considered the most formal color for the waistcoat because of the aforementioned expense of frequent laundering and starching. Consequently, black models ceased to be an alternative for full-dress suits while white models became increasingly popular with dinner jackets at occasions which would have required tailcoats prior to the First World War's relaxation of social standards. 
 
A stylish mode for the white waistcoat was the straight-waistlined "tub" fashion that had been revived in America in 1921, a year after its re-introduction in England.  Available in single- and double-breasted models it was popular with both informal and formal evening dress because its high-waisted cut and lack of points could better accommodate the height and fullness of the new trouser style.
 
A few years later another waistcoat innovation was rapidly gaining in popularity: the backless model.  Premiered by the Prince of Wales, this design replaced the full back of the waistcoat with just two small straps that held the front in place thereby allowing the vest to retain much less body heat and making it particularly ideal for tropical climes.
 
Shawl collars continued to be the norm for evening waistcoats although there were occasional appearances of models with peaked lapels or no lapels at all.

1920 American; very early (re)appearance of collar-less dress vest	1920 American dinner jacket waistcoat incorrectly described as "full dress vest"	1921 US full-dress waistcoat worn with tuxedo and featuring new drooping shawl collar
1921 US white waistcoat worn with tuxedo; features extra wide and notched lapels and tub style bottom	1922 new backless style sold in single- and double-breasted models; buyers were asked to indicate their shirt size and shirt bosom length when ordering	1922 rare double-breasted black waistcoat for "informal spring and summer wear with a dinner coat"
1928 Men's Wear survey of "summer evening dress styles in New York" showing the popularity of white waistcoats with tuxedos (tailcoats were not worn in summer)

1930s

"Waistcoats have become a high style item,” observed Apparel Arts in 1933.  “No more of the thick ill-fitting affairs but today a suave and sleek arrangement.”  Dapper dressers personalized their formal and semi-formal evening suits through their choice of single-breasted or double-breasted models, usually with a narrow V-shaped front opening, as well as a seemingly endless variety of lapels and cuts.  By 1936 the backless design became the preferred choice in London and was rapidly gaining favor in the U.S.
 
Notable developments for the full-dress waistcoat included the Prince of Wales’ export of the W-shaped double-breasted bottom of the daytime waistcoat into full evening dress.  He also introduced rounded points as well as straight-bottom models styled without revers. 
 
The 1920s fashion of wearing a full-dress waistcoat with the informal dinner jacket remained popular in Europe in the early ‘30s but by autumn 1933 the inaugural issue of Esquire was reporting that “The white waistcoat has at last been allowed to rejoin its lawful but long estranged mate, the tailcoat, and the new dinner jackets are matched with a waistcoat of the jacket material, with dull grosgrain lapel facing.”  The renewed popularity of the tailcoat in the latter part of the decade further reduced the appeal of the mixed-breed combination although some etiquette experts would continue to recommend it as a formal middle ground for decades to come.  (Emily Post prescribed it for the most formal of black-tie occasions right up until the 1970s.)

full-dress models from a 1932 Apparel Arts pictorial	1934 US ad for evening waistcoats available in black or white; many are shorter than "regulation length" to wear with English rise trousers	1935 evening waistcoat ad and bow tie ad from American haberdasher periodical

 
Around the same time that the white waistcoat fell out of favor some avant garde dressers began to augment their tuxedos with styles fashioned of colored silk.  However, the effect was a subtle one due to the evening waistcoat’s traditional low cut which limited its visibility under a closed dinner jacket.  The rising popularity of double-breasted dinner jackets prompted fashion authorities to remind men that waistcoats were not necessary with such jackets.
 

1940s-1970s

Like the aftermath of the First World War, it was a markedly more informal world that emerged from World War II and consequently many of the sartorial flourishes of 1930s evening wear disappeared.  The declining interest in full dress, along with its highly conservative nature, meant that by the 1950s the rules for the white-tie waistcoat were pretty much set in stone for the remainder of the century.
 
While the tuxedo continued to be much more relevant than the tailcoat, the post-war informal interpretation of black tie meant that the cummerbund was now the waist covering of choice.  The waistcoat essentially went into sartorial exile emerging briefly in the early 1960s to enhance the Continental Look that was popular at the time.  Now commonly referred to as a vest in America, the waistcoat was typically part of a three-piece formal suit.  The same type of trimmed edges featured on the jacket’s lapel was also used on the waistcoat’s revers until they began to disappear in the mid-sixties. 
 
The extravagantly ruffled shirts, double-breasted jackets and “formal jumpsuits” of the late ‘60s and 1970s once again rendered the evening waistcoat largely obsolete.  When it did appear it was more likely to be cut higher like the vest of a three-piece business suit, a style which became standard by the 1980s despite its aesthetic incompatibility with the low cut of traditional single-button tuxedo jackets.  It could either match the tuxedos (often colored during this time) or be of a contrasting color, texture and/or pattern.

1946 pattern for "evening dress waistcoat” that can have 3 or 4 buttons and be U shaped or have a “V shaped opening either for the tuxedo suit or for style effect”	early peacock styling from GQ in 1961; at left is pattern of gold medallions on black silk, at right is black cut velvet with matching bow tie	1962 American example of continental style waistcoat, one of the last to feature a low cut and lapels

Cummerbunds

Victorian Origins

English officers serving in British East India in the nineteenth century adopted the local practice of wearing a sash around the waist to protect the body’s core from the physical ravages of the excess heat and humidity of the tropics.  In the late Victorian period they adapted this kamarband into evening wear and exported it back to Europe where it was hardly a resounding success as a replacement for the full-dress waistcoat.  One French fashion magazine described it in 1873 as a “wide belt that constitutes yet another grotesque fashion whose slovenly appearance hardly requires mention.”

The Handbook of English Costume of the Nineteenth Century contains an 1889 period description of the original cummerbund as a crimson or black silk "sash" wrapped around the waist four times.  In 1893 it was described as a black "waistband" and was noted for having become popular with morning dress in colored silks wrapped twice around the waist.  In 1895 it was described specifically as a "cummerbund" made of silk or colored twilled drill (a hardy cotton fabric most often used for khaki clothing) that had become "hopelessly vulgarized". 

Edwardian Era

Despite its apparent fall from fashion in the late Victorian era the cummerbund appears again in early Edwardian sources, this time in the style of a cut-off waistcoat.

circa 1902 (UK) - tailored from the bottom part of a waistcoat pattern.	1907 (UK) - "kamarband" intended only for "hot weather and the tropics"

1920s

In 1924 a US patent application was filed for what was described as novel style of a "waistcoat or vest for dress wear" in that it consisted only of the bottom portion of the traditional waistcoat thereby eliminating the tendency for stiff dress shirts to bulge out of the open front of said waistcoat.  Two variations were illustrated, one being similar to the Edwardian cummerbund except that it fastened in the rear with a buckle like a belt rather than buttoning in the front like a waistcoat.  The other variation was the modern pleated style of cummerbund.

illustration of vest-style and pleated-style cummerbunds from 1924 patent application.  Note tab for attaching to trousers

In 1928 a Men’s Wear article covering the Palm Beach scene noted an increase in popularity for the cummerbund which it described as "a black silk sash used as a replacement for the waistcoat on warm evenings".

A British tailor-made cummerbund from the late 1920s.  The front has neither pleats, buttons nor pockets and the back fastens with two buckles.

1930s

mess jackets with cummerbunds were all the rage in 1933	1933 Apparel Arts recommendations for adding color to the  mess jacket	"Indian Madras" cummerbund for warm weather wear (1937)

1940s - 1960s

Formal standards were relaxed after the Second World War and by the 1950s the black cummerbund was considered appropriate year round.  In fact, the cummerbund pretty much eradicated the waistcoat until the late 1970s.  The adjustable version seems to have been invented in 1959 according to another US patent application (below) depicting a cummerbund with an adjustable rear strap specifically intended to eliminate the need for custom sized models.

Tuning in to America’s growing taste for flair and comfort in formal wear, After Six introduced a riot of color, pattern and fabric to cummerbunds in 1954 and sold them with matching pre-tied bow ties in “formal paks”.  They also featured a variation known as the cummervest which was essentially a throwback to the Edwardian-era cummerbund styles.  By 1959 upscale haberdashers were offering their own variations with matching self-tie bow ties and by 1967 After Six was advertising a whopping 164 varieties.

rear view of late 1940s summer cummerbund with no discernable fastner	1954 US ad for matching cummervest and cummerbund sets	illustration of adjustable size cummerbund from 1959 patent application
After Six matching cummerbund and tie set circa 1955		vintage cummervest

1970s - present

When conservatism returned to formal wear in the late 1970s the color and pattern introduced during the Peacock Revolution of the sixties was stripped from all garments with the notable exception of waist covers and matching ties.  Solid colored cummerbund sets were particularly popular with young American males throughout the 1980s which may explain the formal sash’s fall from favor in the 1990s.  By the turn of the millennium men much preferred either a waistcoat or uncovered waist to the formerly ubiquitous cummerbund.  

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