Simply the vest: From the ’90s wardrobes of Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston, to Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid
Part tank top, part formal suit, the shirt-vest might be this season’s most versatile garment.
Diane Keaton famously buttoned up a black one in 1977’s Annie Hall. Other highly visible advocates include patrician Katharine Hepburn, slinky Marlene Dietrich, unapologetically gaptoothed Lauren Hutton and disco queen Bianca Jagger. It was the hero of Giorgio Armani’s oversize suiting looks in the 1990s and Tom Ford’s skintight 2000s Gucci tailoring.
What is this icon whose versatility has endured for decades? The neutral-hued suit vest, which – conspicuous again on models Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner – has emerged as the tastemaker’s must-have summer top.
The women’s waistcoat is imbued with an air of rebellion. For proof, look no further than the 2019 film Little Women, in which Saoirse Ronan, as strong-willed Jo March, dons a black velvet one – a stark contrast to the calico-print dresses of Jo’s more demure sisters.
This summer’s vest wearers are united by their own rebellion: a near-universal refusal to wear anything underneath a la ’90s-era role models like Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore.
This season’s takes – think of them as structured sleeveless shirts – don’t require a jacket or blouse. Paired with matching trousers or denim, the vest is no longer an above-waist layer: it is the main event.
“It’s an alternative to the tank,” said Olympia Gayot, J.Crew’s head of women’s design. While the suit vest’s masculine roots lend it a subversive sexiness, it offers more coverage and sophistication than a camisole or crop top. “You still have your arms bare, it’s breathable, but it looks polished,” said Gayot.
Isabel Wilkinson, founder of New York fashion label Attersee, launched her Sculpted Vest in June. It sold out almost immediately. Twice.
“This has been such a solution for me,” said Wilkinson. “It is glowing in my closet, beckoning to me every time I get a panicky feeling about getting dressed.”
While the ’90s-is-cool-again trend cycle is propelling the vest-top’s popularity, so is its functionality, proposed Tibi founder and creative director Amy Smilovic. “It has very broad appeal,” she said of the style that’s resonating among women of widely varying ages and body types.
For the office, Smilovic advocates wearing the vest more traditionally – that is, with suit pants and a matching jacket, even if sans shirt. “It actually just looks like you’re wearing a V-neck top under a blazer,” she said, and you can pop off the jacket and have a more relaxed, airy look for post-work cocktails.
All three designers we spoke to agreed: the vest should be elegantly fitted. Not tight, necessarily, but not so loose and boxy that you’ll require a layer underneath for propriety, which is so not the point of this vest-as-shirt trend. Plus, a close fit heightens that masculine-meets-feminine edge that J.Crew’s Gayot suggested is essential to its appeal.
Rachelle Tacbi-Hill, 32, bought an off-white Alex Mill vest to wear while taking Zoom calls from her Massachusetts, home. “I wanted something I could wear ... when I’m trying to be a little bit more professional,” said the fashion marketing strategist.
She also appreciates the subtle statement it makes when it’s styled au naturel: “I like wearing it without anything underneath because it still feels sophisticated, yet a little bit edgy and risque.”
Tacbi-Hill teams her vest with vintage army pants she found on Etsy. But part of the vest’s current popularity is that, as a boundary-busting hybrid – part suit, part party piece, part summer tank – it pairs well with most anything. Attersee’s Wilkinson is amazed by the different ways women wear it when they tag her brand on Instagram.
A suitable partner for mini skirts, formal trousers and denim alike, the vest, she said, has replaced the going-out top of her youth.
While admitting that saying she wears it day to night is “so cliche,” she conceded, “I really do.”
The Wall Street Journal
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