en in vests. Guilty pleasure? Reserved for the holiday wardrobe? A garment to showcase all those hours spent beavering away at the gym? The thing Justin Bieber seems to live in 24/7 (see previous point neatly brought to life with additional baseball cap and chain necklace styling)? Something, along with Ready brek, that your mum forced you to wear to school during the winter months under your shirt as a child of the 1980s? An off-duty stripper vibe, as seen on Channing Tatum? Heck, wearing a vest is a complicated business. Let’s divide and conquer: here are five ways to tackle them. Deep breaths.
President Obama is famed for wearing a vest under his trademark white shirt. This is a subtle power move, bulking up the body and preventing shirt transparency in front of the world’s media. It’s also a darn practical approach that brings comfort to many a weather situation. If its roasting, a well placed under-garment is going to soak up the perspiration, making you feel much less rumpled than rocking up to your breakfast meeting in a pool of your own liquid. Ew. Personally, during the summer months I stock up on under layers from the likes of Uniqlo (their Airism range is particularly good for keeping things dry in the heat), The White Briefs (a newish Swedish underwear-come-lifestyle brand) andSunspel, whose cotton vests maybe one of the best wearing items of clothing I’ve ever had. The bottom line is, they protect shirt armpits from stains – and no-one wants to think about stains when they’re thinking about fashion now do they?
2. Silver Screen Vest Idols
Picture: QueenieBridal chiffon wedding dressAll time greatest silver screen vest idol? Brad Pitt in Fightclub, obvs. This vest is not just jazzy (and it really is jazzy) but shows Mr Pitt in his physical prime with muscles oozing all over the place. One thing to take from this is if you’re wearing a vest as a top layer it’s often considered something of a statement, so you might as well go for it. Naturally the high street will serve you well on this front – seeASOS (shown on models tattooed up to the eyeballs) or Topman. Otherwise, more commonly, Hollywood would have you in something simpler and probably white. Think Matt Dillon in The Outsiders – white vest, jeans, neck chain, possibly a bandana. Or Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. These are classic vests designed to ripple with old-school masculinity. Note: as is often the case, if all of the above leaves you cold, you can always channel vintage Ryan Gosling whose been known to wear a simple striped vest (stripes are as fail safe as anything), with no fuss, possibly a simple necklace and sunglasses. The Gosling that keeps on giving etc.
3. 2016 Vest Styling Now
Forget summer 2015, we might still be very much in it, but in fashion terms we’re so over it. The sales are on – particularly good for designer-vest buying btw – ergo any trends related to that season are officially done. No matter, we’ve already seen what designers want us to wear next summer thanks to the recent menswear shows in London, Paris, Milan and New York. Picking up on that Gosling stripe tip is very next season AMI. Their vest is cut higher on the chest – just tuck into a fluid grey slack and add a skinny belt. You can get something pretty similar at Sunspel right now. Givenchy and Lanvin both showed suiting with vests for next summer, which when you consider the way the suit has been relaxed over the past few years, seems kind of par for the course. Whether this translates from a runway model to bit-squiffy-in-a-wedding-marquee civilian reality is another matter. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for an upscale designer vest, Haider Ackermann is your man: they feel beautiful on with the absolute perfect slouch factor. You might still snag one in the sale, just don’t tell anyone it’s spring/summer 2015, naturally.
4. Tanking It
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Topman’s vest T-shirt Photograph: PR
The tank vest is basically a lot less chesty. It’s like a crew T-shirt with the sleeves shaved off. It’s quite Public School – the hip New York based menswear duo who’ve won a billion fashion awards of late for their minimal sports aesthetic and were recently appointed head designers at DKNY. It’s the kind of look that works well on a slightly broader frame and, almost more than any other vest, seems to demand extremely good arm definition. Not sure why. Discuss. Designer Astrid Andersen, who shows in London and is popular with the hip-hop fraternity, is a great advocate of this style. Hers are bold, yes, but cut loose to sit slightly away from the body, which is far more attractive than spray-on. American Apparel also have this shape in spades. Topman have it fashioned with surfer motifs. God, even Nick Jonas wore one earlier this year in black. Plus, they can work quite well layered under a short-sleeved shirt – with the shirt worn open, your armpits fully ventilated. Meanwhile, if you don’t want to fully commit then just follow Brooklyn Beckham’s lead. At Coachella he neatly shoved his T-shirt sleeves up to give the effect of a tank, the thrifty devil.
5. Slashed
Yes, those vests that are cut lower at the arm holes, so they gape around your torso, showing off rib and possibly nipple, are, without question, thoroughly questionable. This is truly the vest of the show-off. It is nothing more than gratuitous. See Channing Tatum leaving the gym during training for the Magic Mike sequel. Frankly, so much of that last sentence sums up what is wrong with the slashed-sided vest. And, if it doesn’t, then theheadline that accompanied Guardian film editor Peter Bradshaw’s review might: “Like watching pained strippers dryhump.” And while we’re on tricky terrain, let’s close proceedings with mesh. Yes, that’s right, mesh. Totally fine worn as an under garment or in a sports context for breathability. Totally fine if you’re in a photo shoot and you’re Robert Pattinson at the height of your hair’s prowess and you’re rebelliously smoking. Really not fine as a top layer worn on it’s own. That’s just tits on toast. And menfolk, really, no one needs your tits laid out for them. They just don’t.
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