Bow tie with 5 button waistcoat?

[OC Richard]

black Argyll jackets pressed into service as black tie outfits...

This is the first thing I noticed. Remember that Prince Charlie coatees are a 20th century invention, and only in the second half of the 20th century became regarded by many as the end-all and be-all of Evening Dress jackets.


In Victorian times formal jackets were either of the Doublet or the Argyll cut, so I would regard a black Argyll not as an outsider pressed into service, but rather a much older and more traditional style than the Prince Charlie coatee.

About waistcoats, yes the Prince Charlie seems to have used the low-cut waistcoat from the beginning.

But the 19th century high-buttoning waistcoats long worn with the already-existing Doublets and Argylls began getting lower towards the end of the 19th century and into the early 20th.

Here's a Doublet worn with a mid-height waistcoat



Here's a black Argyll with high-buttoning waistcoat worn with Evening Dress, black bow tie, plaid, Evening Dress sporran, tartan hose, buckled shoes.



Here you can see a variety of waistcoat heights, from the high-buttoning one worn by the piper (with a Doublet) and a low-buttoning one by the centre dancer (with an Argyll)



which should challenge our assumptions about which sort of waistcoats ought to be worn with which sort of jackets.