The waist plate and vest usually don't work well together. Either the vest ends up partially covering the plate,or the plate rides up over the vest, and either way it just looks - untidy, not well put together. But your milage may vary. On your original question, 2 pictures are worth a thousand words. Here is the same argyle at Marine Corps Balls a year apart.

With a four in hand:



and with a bow tie:



Geoffrey Withnell