Argyll? Vest? Waistcoat? what's in a name

[RockyR]

First, I'll start with the easy one... a Waistcoat IS a vest. They're one in the same... 2 different words to describe the same thing.

A Prince Charlie jacket / (3 button) vest is for formal occasions, typically "worn after 6". The jacket and vest are ALMOST ALWAYS sold together and worn together. The jacket does NOT button in the front... those buttons are all strictly decorative. It has tails in the back and has lots of "bling". It has "braemar cuffs", which means that it has a small piece of fabric sewn on and has 3 buttons going vertically down the sleeve:



Picture of the tails...


An ARGYLL jacket and (5 button) vest is a slightly less formal option. It is slightly lower cut than a PC, but NOT NEARLY as long as a standard "suit jacket". It can be bought with or without the vest, but I recommend that it be bought WITH the vest, so you have different options on different outfits. You can wear just the jacket, just the vest or Jacket AND vest for slightly dressier events. The cuffs are called "Gauntlet Cuffs", which means they have a bit of "vertical ribbing" going down the last 6 - 7 inches and they have 3 buttons going horizontally around the sleeve.



BTW... when wearing a PC, you should have a "tux shirt" and a bow tie. When wearing an Argyll, you should have on a "standard dress shirt" and a straight tie (I prefer solids as they won't clash at all with the tartan). Hope this answers your questions!

[Carolina Kiltman]

First, I'll start with the easy one... a Waistcoat IS a vest. They're one in the same... 2 different words to describe the same thing.

Generally the two are the same, on this side of the Atlantic it is called a vest, on the other a waistcoat, often pronounced weskit. However in certain specialized situations the vest has one or more straps, and sometimes no real back at all. But on this forum, the only distinction made is between the fitted one, with no adjustment strap(s) and the adjustable one.