A protester in a yellow vest at Place de la Bastille, in Paris, during the “march for freedoms” in opposition to the global security law, January 16, 2021.
On the contrary, the latter is becoming very rare in the specialized press and even more so in the street. After a clear decline since the middle of the 20th century, Vogue Hommes nevertheless affirmed in February 1989 that it had “again become an essential element” of the costume and devoted around twenty pages to it.
Nevertheless, in the illustrations that the issue associated that year with the twenty-nine creators of the men's fashion union chamber, few outfits offered one: from an essential garment at the dawn of the last century, it did not was already, at its twilight, more than an optional accessory, capable of attracting only a few "fashionists", according to the admission of one of the magazine's columnists.
THE ORIGINS OF THE VEST: WARMTH, ETIQUETTE AND PROPERTY
The vest is a short, sleeveless jacket, buttoned in the front, not to be confused with the cardigan and other long-sleeved knitted jackets. In the fashion family tree, its direct ancestor is the doublet, a garment covering the bust since the 14th century.
This first became a “jacket” between 1660 and 1670, at the time of the appearance of a new outer garment: the leotard +. The latter being most often worn open, the jacket provided protection to the bust against the cold and concealed the shirt, considered an undergarment until the first decades of the 20th century. Her sleeves were still long and it was when she lost them around 1720 that she became a waistcoat.
An embroidered silk satin waistcoat, circa 1775-1800.
At that date it was, with the coat and breeches, one of the three elements making up the French coat, ancestor of the three-piece suit. Versailles setting the tone, the wearing of the vest spread throughout Europe, to the point of integrating the etiquette costume of several courts, in the 18th and then the 19th centuries.
Outside of this context, it remained worn daily, but in less luxurious versions . It kept you warm, concealed your shirt and suspenders, and allowed the man of the world to never have his arms hanging loose; when walking or standing, the hand that was not holding the cane or some other accessory could slip into it.
Entering the cycle of fashions, it had to respond to all its requirements, even if they contravened its primary functions.
This is evidenced by the model imposed with the tailcoat, in the evening, whose very large indentation reveals the bib of this shirt that we wanted to cover and exposes to the drafts this torso that we wanted to protect. In the first half of the 20th century, the men's fashion press continued to codify the wearing of vests.
In March 1923, the audacity of a silver gray model with fine pearl buttons found favor in the eyes of Pierre de Trévières, but he could not bring himself to speak to Monsieur 's readers about the "love dove, straw, sulfur or fawn” which would have deserved to their owner “to be quartered at Place Vendôme and their remains scattered between the Madeleine and the Champs-Elysées for the edification of the crowds. ".
In the spring of 1958, a columnist from Adam-Tailleur was less severe but continued to dictate “a few principles to respect: opt for a light vest with a dark suit; give tone to a light suit, with a dark waistcoat.”
However, we were already wearing it less and less; in an article on “sartorial etiquette”, Adam proposed in the spring of 1951 a city suit “for the hot weather” which did not require it. Several factors then contributed to the disappearance of what was already nothing more than a dispensable accessory.
THE VEST IN CRISIS
The successive crises of the first half of the 20th century permanently changed the way we dress. The First World War slowed down the supply of raw materials and the end of the conflict was accompanied by a clothing crisis.
The authorities then launched the idea of an inexpensive “national suit”: a jacket and pants made from a stock of fabric made available to manufacturers by the War Ministry.
Faced with such a shortage, the vest seemed superfluous. Without disappearing between the wars, the financial crisis of 1929, then the Second World War and its ration tickets, prevented it from regaining the place it had.
Fashion adapted to this and, from the 1930s, the practice of “go without” spread: going out without any accessories. The vest is then all the more superfluous as the jacket, if buttoned, hides it.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat directed by Mark Sandrich in 1935. The actor wears a black suit (tailcoat) with, as it should be, a low-cut white vest.
To keep warm, we often cover our torso with a more economical knitted model, which we can even knit at home. Less rigid, more tight-fitting, it gives a sporty look to the silhouette, which is not without displeasing, ending up reducing the classic vest to a formal and therefore more casual wardrobe.
THE UNFASHIONED VEST
At the same time, the history of fashion took a radical turn in the 1950s which would permanently transform men's wardrobe. While, since the 19th century at least, the model to follow was the very distinguished English gentleman, eyes suddenly turned towards the Italian peninsula and America, which abandoned the waistcoat in the 1920s.
Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Louise Rainer, Federico Fellini, Anita Ekberg and Yvonne Furneaux seated during a break from filming the film La dolce vita , in 1959. The two men are not wearing the vest.
In Milan, Rome, Naples, young people, often impoverished by the war and the fascist years, stood out with fitted, flashy suits of random quality. A jacket and pants are enough for them, especially since the climate is milder than in London. American cinema also highlights a more casual way of dressing.
In an anthology scene from La Mort aux Trousses (1959), Cary Grant, chased by a plane, short jacket wide open, revealing his vestless torso.
Cary Grant in the film North by Northwest directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1959.
More generally, this accessory suffers from a fashion now geared less towards the bourgeois man of the world than towards the young man, willingly non-conformist. The baby boom generations are freeing themselves from the almost immutable model of their elders and bringing extraordinary freedom in their choice of clothing.
In 1960 Pierre Cardin hired “young people” to present his first men’s collection, characterized by high-rise “cylinder” jackets, without lapels and worn without a vest.
The Beatles in 1963, dressed in Pierre Cardin “cylinder” costumes
Alongside these models, which are still very proper, the young rebels played on screen by Marlon Brando and James Dean are pushing to completely abandon the suit in favor of jeans and a T-shirt. In competition with this underside that has become an upper, the vest becomes the target of an additional criticism: the lack of comfort.
James Dean on the set of Rebel Without a Cause (The Fury of Living) directed by Nicholas Ray in 1955.
Youth also promotes, and this until today, a body that is free but must be athletic. Since the 18th century, the vest has helped shape an ideal body. Under Louis XV (1715-1774) it emphasized or simulated a slight overweight, a symbol of ease; during the Restoration (1815-1830) it helped to flesh out the bust to give it a martial appearance and several were even superimposed.
“Parisian costume” n°2343, engraving from the Journal des Dames et des Modes, 1825. The model wears two pique vests stacked on top of each other.
Since the 1880s, fashion has tended towards an ever more slender silhouette and the waistcoat was sometimes accused of emphasizing an unwelcome belly, despite the last button which people became accustomed to undoing.
François-Hubert Drouais, portrait of the sculptor Edmé Bouchardon, circa 1758. Louvre Museum. The gap of the vest, buttoned only on the belly, as was fashionable, accentuates its volume.
In March 1923, Pierre de Trévières suggested that English models could get bigger. As the practice of sport develops, it replaces this accessory in its role of sculptor of a perfect body and dumbbells have replaced padding.
THE VEST, DESERTED BASTION OF FANTASY
The vest has long been, along with the tie, one of the only refuges of personality. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, it could be shaped or printed with colorful, abstract or subject motifs, brightening up a sometimes austere outfit.
After a duller period, from 1855 to the First World War, during which the three-piece cut in a single fabric gradually became established, the fashion for vests, now called “fancy” vests, made a comeback in 1920. This year- there a columnist from Monsieur rejoiced: “After a fairly long eclipse, will the fancy vest reappear? It must be admitted that it would bring a touch of color to the men’s costume.”
The fabrics he offered were very daring: black and white striped with green polka dots or a camel background with blue and cream polka dots. In 1958 Adam-Tailleur went in the same direction: “the fancy vest is an affirmation… of freedom and personality. It gives the audacity that is lacking in a city costume that is too classic, dull because it is sober, and perhaps a little “boring”.
However, since new generations have granted themselves ever greater freedom, fantasy no longer needs it to exist. Haircut, unusual accessory, offbeat style: everything in the outfit can now express personality. But it is paradoxically this situation which allowed and still allows the vest to survive.
Rejected because everyone wore it, some reappropriated it when it was no longer there, in a dandy spirit. Always associated in the collective imagination with a certain formalism, it remains worn on special occasions, such as a wedding or a New Year's Eve.
Nevertheless, although it has almost disappeared from our wardrobes today, it continues to exist on a daily basis as a useful accessory, full of pockets for handymen, and as a uniform on the backs of waiters who, since the 19th century century, they have never left it.
