An Interesting Fair Isle Sweater Vest

From time to time one comes across anomalies in the menswear world. These are items that existed for a short period of time, are not traditional, completely bizarre, or just plain archaic; yet they are desirable, even if controversial.

The Houndstooth Kid, an internet friend of the Eccentric Orange Gent, recently posted about the mess jacket. This got my wheels turning and inspired me to post about my sweater vest. Sometimes you gain inspiration from your peers and I thank him for that.

Here is the interesting Fair Isle sweater vest:

The most interesting thing about this sweater vest is closure system. It creates a very large opening in the chest and opens up so many possibilities for tie and shirt combinations. The deep opening makes it unsuitable for wear without jackets and with bow ties. Sorry! This is a straight tie and jacket affair. The pattern and closure make it highly informal. You should only wear this with a casual or country suit. The more daring of dandies will choose to take it with an odd jacket and odd pants. Sadly the buttons stop short of allowing you to wear a pocket watch although, one could jerry rig one for extra style points.

While this seems to be novel; it actually is a style of sweater that fell out of favor after the sixties. I've come across a few and even asked a seasoned Atlanta financial executive who happened to be wearing one at an alumni mixer down town about them. The banker told me that they were all the rage when he was a student at Emory in the '60s. They also can be found on ebay from time to time. I personally think they should still be around and only add interest to the sweater combinations that dandies can piece together.

Ebay Image

Next time your thrifting consider this option. I overlooked mine but after three months of passing it by I finally came to my senses and picked it up. Please, let us remind ourselves every once in a while of forgotten words in the sartorial dictionary.

What I Wore Today: "60s Bow tie Edition

Here I am on an errand day, I dislike these mornings so, I take it as a chance to wear something I normally don't. I find it really hard to wear this particular bow tie. I decided to let it take center stage. It is a slim, '60s bow tie and therefore hard to wear with most colors I
own. Also you have to wear a particularly high v-neck collared sweater or a crew neck sweater. If you have a particularly high closing vest or waistcoat you could wear this.

So, here it is:

Vintage, yellow bow tie with my Aeropostle multi stripe shirt and an argyle, Perry Ellis sweater

The side view shows that it really is a high v-neck.

Close-up of the stamped patterned belt against my shirt and some Bill's Khakis

Happy Socks in a staid blue pattern

New saddle shoes thrifted from the Salvation Army. Pebbled like textured leather on the vamp in a dark brown and regular brown leather on the rest of the shoe with a rubber brick sole