To button or not...?

[Father Bill]

If one buttons one's jacket, one cannot display the lovely buttons of the waistcoat, now, can one?

[Spartan Tartan]

If one buttons one's jacket, one cannot display the lovely buttons of the waistcoat, now, can one?

How many ones can one use when composing one's own thoughts for one's own, and other's, entertainment...apparently 4. So there you have it. Button the top FOUR buttons and leave the bottom "one" unbuttoned

[Father Bill]

How many ones can one use when composing one's own thoughts for one's own, and other's, entertainment...apparently 4. So there you have it. Button the top FOUR buttons and leave the bottom "one" unbuttoned

Ta-da-a-a!

[auld argonian]

Hey...leave the bottom one unbuttoned and people will think that you're fashionable.

Try leaving the TOP one unbuttoned and see how many people come up and tell you that you're unbuttoned.

Best

AA

[davedove]

I've always wondered about the practice of leaving the bottom button undone. I can see all the practical reasons for doing so (so it doesn't bunch up when sitting, etc.), but if one leaves it unbottoned all the time, why in the world do you have the button there????

[Father Bill]

I've always wondered about the practice of leaving the bottom button undone. I can see all the practical reasons for doing so (so it doesn't bunch up when sitting, etc.), but if one leaves it unbottoned all the time, why in the world do you have the button there????

What! You've never heard of a "belly button??????"

[Nighthawk]

What! You've never heard of a "belly button??????"

So... Here's what me granddad always told me- With a waistcoat, the coat should never be buttoned, unless you need it buttoned for warmth. The bottom button of the waistcoat should be undone, as noted, to keep the waistcoat from bunching. If you're not wearing a waistcoat, then you should button your jacket. He never told me why... only that it's how things are done... Oh yeah, and then there's the double breasted waistcoat. All buttons should be buttoned on those, as the waist is straight across and won't bunch.

Oh yeah- and you should never, ever go out to eat, even to McDonald's, without at least wearing shirt and tie. (I break this one regularly... I like the tie without a shirt- of any kind! )

[lukeyrobertson]

A laddie once feasted on mutton.
At once he noticed his button.
It felt tighter than ever; his mind being clever;
He counted to four and the fifth, he unbuttoned!

[Mike_Oettle]

The whole question of buttoning a waistcoat at the bottom intrigued me greatly when I was a boy, and my mother made my father a weskit on her Singer sewing machine.
If I recall correctly, she used a pattern in which the lowest button couldn’t be buttoned up because of the way the material was cut.
It struck me as a pretty silly practice at the time, and I still cannot see the reason for the convention.
My thinking is that when I have a tartan weskit made for myself, I will make sure that it has a bottom button that can be buttoned, and that I would wear it that way.
That said, I rather like the style of a tartan weskit that has two points at the bottom and has the tartan on the bias, because there is a sharper contrast with the horizontal tartan of the kilt.
Regards,
Mike

[chrisupyonder]

If one buttons one's jacket, one cannot display the lovely buttons of the waistcoat, now, can one?

Could ave got another one in there!

If one buttons one's jacket, one cannot display the lovely buttons on ones's waistcoat, now, can one?

Makes sense to leave unbuttoned if sitting down but I would button it up again when standing for any length of time.