Waist Coat Length?

[Colonel MacNeal]

Perhaps there is a miscommunication. This is a photo from Eire which shows the arrangement which I described. Although it is a white tie & tails example, this waistcoat length would work for black tie & tails as well.

[JSFMACLJR]

Perhaps there is a miscommunication. This is a photo from Eire which shows the arrangement which I described. Although it is a white tie & tails example, this waistcoat length would work for black tie & tails as well.

Black tie and tails? What, for servants?

[Colonel MacNeal]

Black tie and tails? What, for servants?

When you're finished being cheeky, would you please comment on the waistcoat placement in the Irish photo?

Cheers, ColMac

[JSFMACLJR]

Perhaps there is a miscommunication. This is a photo from Eire which shows the arrangement which I described. Although it is a white tie & tails example, this waistcoat length would work for black tie & tails as well.

In this case the waistcoat is about an inch too long.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Perhaps there is a miscommunication. This is a photo from Eire which shows the arrangement which I described. Although it is a white tie & tails example, this waistcoat length would work for black tie & tails as well.

Excellent photo, except the young man's dresser hasn't properly adjusted the length of his waistcoat. That crisp one inch of white showing beneath the hem of the jacket effectively cuts the model in half, and destroys the line of the suit.

Part of the elegance of white tie is that it visually enhances the height of the wearer. With high-waisted trousers and a jacket cut to the natural waist, the combined effect makes the wearer look taller and slimmer. With the sole exception of the kilt, there is no other form of civilian dress that is as becoming on a gentleman.

As Sandford (JSFMACLJR) has pointed out, when worn with black tie and a black (or sometimes coloured) waistcoat, this becomes the uniform of a servant, or a waiter in a rather grand European hotel.

When an invitation to a formal event indicates the mode of dress to be white tie or black tie, it does not mean that a black bow tie and waistcoat should be worn with tails. Rather, it is the host's intention that guests may wear either tails or a tuxedo to the event.

[JSFMACLJR]

Here are three pictures showing right and wrong. In the first two, the Duke of Edinburgh is showing how the waistcoat should be, as opposed to that for President Sarcozy. The third photo shows the Duke of Gloucester on the right (correct) and a gentleman on the right of the Lord Mayor of London (wrong).

[Colonel MacNeal]

Thank you gentlemen - I have been schooled.

[Dan R Porter]

I should buy all of you a scotch. int: