The odd waistcoat is too often neglected as a way to liven up your suit. We are so used to three-piece suits, all parts in identical colour and pattern, that we forget the odd waistcoat and its uses.
At one time, all waistcoats were odd. A glance at the fashions of the 18th and early 19th centuries are instructive.
Source: Georgianera.
By the early 19th century, what we now recognise as the waistcoat, shorter and less flamboyant, was becoming “a thing”. The example below (about 1850) is an evening waistcoat. It looks fairly familiar if you have followed the AskOkey podcast and seen some of Proff’s evening waistcoats. It is cut a little higher than a modern one would be, but the lapels, self-cloth buttons and pockets are all recognisable.
Source: Metropolitan Museum
Waistcoats remain “odd” up into the 1860s, when the lounge suit (a garment of which all three pieces were cut from the same cloth) became common, in the day time. The reason for the odd waistcoats is that “suits”, as we know them, did not exist. Coat and trousers were cut from different fabrics (e.g., a dark blue or black for the coat, and grey, check or white for the trousers). Once the frock coat was replaced for casual wear by the lounge suit (called a “ditto” in popular jargon), the three-piece suit grew in popularity. An aside here – the jacket of the three-piece suit was cut with the skirt and chest part in one long piece. Frock coats were separate parts, stitched together (upper part, and skirts). This changed tailoring, of course. As lounge suits developed, replacing frock coats and strollers for daytime use, they became more sophisticated in construction.
But the odd waistcoat remained. Today, morning dress usually features a grey coat with a light blue or buff waistcoat (or possibly in a very light grey shade).
An odd waistcoat makes a suit a little less formal.
Source: Bond Suits
Should the odd waistcoat be lighter or darker than the suit? Not necessarily, but it does seem to be the custom, as in this example of the Tattersal waistcoat, worn here with a fairly dark blue suit.
Source: Ethan, A Bit of Rest
The odd waistcoat is an excellent choice with a two-piece suit or even an odd jacket, for extra colour, a pattern or contrast, not to mention warmth in the winter.
Source: AskOkey
Consider one of AskOkey’s odd waistcoats (shameless plug) here https://askokey.com/shop/bespoke/waistcoats .