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What color waistcoast for morning dress?

What color waistcoat would you prefer with a black morning coat and light grey flannel slacks?

  • Black

    Votes: 2 22.2%
  • Buff

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • Dove/Pearl Grey

    Votes: 2 22.2%
  • Powder Blue

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • Total voters
    9

Edward

Bartender
Messages
24,736
Location
London, UK
Buff comes to mind first with that ensemble - with either a silver-grey or baby blue tie. The blue would work too. I think black might look too severe for the less formal trousers, while the grey could look very wrong if not a very definitive contrast with the trousers.
 

Wolf99

New in Town
Messages
26
Location
UK
I'd try the blue myself. I think a lightish blue could go well. I share your uncertainty as to whether buff would go with the other colours. Grey could easily look too close to the trousers. Black would work but be dull and the waistcoat would have to match.
 

Abraham

One of the Regulars
Messages
166
Location
California Coast
I'd try the blue myself. I think a lightish blue could go well. I share your uncertainty as to whether buff would go with the other colours. Grey could easily look too close to the trousers. Black would work but be dull and the waistcoat would have to match.

Precisely. Light grey and buff are such mild colors themselves that I wonder if they would somehow clash? I think the powder blue might work well as the blue, grey and black are all largely cool colors.
 

Abraham

One of the Regulars
Messages
166
Location
California Coast
Why not a medium grey? It would make a nice gradient and I imagine you would get more wear out of it than either the blue or the buff.

I think that would work but one would really need good taste to ensure the combination "worked." If the waistcoat looked too much like the trousers it might get sketchy.
 

Dirk Wainscotting

A-List Customer
Messages
354
Location
Irgendwo
Morning dress became codified in the 20th century as it became merely 'special occasion' wear rather than functional dress. So in the early 19th century you had all kinds of not only waistcoat colours, but silks and brocades. Charles Dickens and Benjamin Disraeli favoured such waistcoats wearing morning or 'walking dress'. Not only the waistcoats, but also the coats and trousers came in all kinds of colours, mostly for fashionable types. Both morning and evening dress was more colourful before the late 19th century.

The use of black cloth for many garments was less about style than about function; it was the most commonly-made cloth and thus the cheapest. It didn't show dirt as readily and it worked in most contexts. This is less of a concern now, so there's no reason why, as always, fashion cannot influence so-called 'style' and taste; morning dress doesn't have to exclude all flair. If a coloured waistcoat was good enough for Dickens it's good enough for me.
 

Dirk Wainscotting

A-List Customer
Messages
354
Location
Irgendwo
I thought I'd post this. It's the morning dress bit of a "dress guide" published alongside a 1960's Tailor & Cutter magazine. Note that the buff waistcoat is not even mentioned!, which is odd because it was known before then.
Occasions013-2.jpg~original

Occasions014.jpg~original
 
Last edited:

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