Henry Herbert was commissioned to make a new waistcoat to accompany the morning suit we are making for a young solicitor from London for his wedding. The customer knew the style of the waistcoat he wanted and drew a sketch for us. From this sketch we……..a) made a pattern, then b) ordered the fabric from the mill, to c)make a baste fitting for him before d)moving on to complete the waistcoat…and the morning suit. This ws a huge amount of work but well worth the patience. The short video on the right hand side offers a glimpse of the finished waistcoat – although apologies….it is no Hollywood production.

A great looking waistcoat we have made using a rare fishtail lining for Freddie Smith who, with Phil O’Farrell, is part of the band Freddie Smith & Phil O’Farrell. (We made Phil a great looking shirt too which you can see under our shirts section). They play great Irish inspired tunes and you can listen to some of them on their MySpace account here.

A special brown waistcoat, made even more special by the very difficult sewing surround of the last button! (The colour matches the lining). This was part of an incredibly difficult three-piece suit that took Henry Herbert 37.5 hours of tailoring to complete, but well worth the toil. The fabric is a splendid Super 100’s wool from Holland & Sherry.

An example of an excellent and very fine cloth from Taylor & Lodge of Huddersfield, England, in a recent Henry Herbert three-piece suit. The secret is “always keep the style simple and the cloth special.”

As bespoke tailors, Henry Herbert can offer any cut and style of waistcoat you wish. However, we have found that the styles below tend to be the most popular.

The Pocketwatch Waistcoat

The Wristwatch Waistcoat is very similar to the Oscar Lafontaine Waistcoat (see below) with the exception of its pockets, which were originally designed to accommodate a wristwatch. Or a stopwatch.

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The Edwardian Line

The Edwardian Line was a reaction to King Edward’s Waistcoat. Both
waistcoats have clean symmetrical lines defining their shape, but the
Edwardian Line has a sharp line punching through the area around the tummy – a provocative but subtle, style reaction to the King’s favourite.

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The Evening Waistcoat

The evening waistcoat is designed to be worn with black tie. The low slung body hides it discreetly behind a buttoned dinner jacket and tuxedo shirt, but quickly reveals itself when the jacket is unbuttoned. It should be worn without a cummerbund and the waistcoat buttons should remain fastened throughout the evening.

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The Lounge Waistcoat

The Lounge waistcoat was once always a key characteristic of the three piece suit, but today has been adopted as a popular choice amongst the youth of Britain as style icon Kate Moss and the members of indie band Razorlight wear them over casual shirts and jeans for a day-to-day fashionable look.

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The Oscar Lafontaine Waistcoat

Oskar Lafontaine is a German politician and former German finance minister. During his short tenure as Minister of Finance, Lafontaine was a main bogeyman of UK Eurosceptics. He is famed for always wearing a waistcoat, with two large, front pockets and five buttons, thus the Oscar Lafontaine Waistcoat.

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