Four Must-Know Tips for Wearing a Vest with Suspenders

The vest has been freed from its status as a formal attire add-on, and you can now wear your vest with suits and casual slacks or jeans. But what about suspenders? Can you get away with wearing these two classic wardrobe accessories together? The answer to that question is, absolutely. Today’s fashion rules are more free-spirited, and you have several options for this pairing.

Over or Under the Vest?

First, let’s answer another common question about wearing suspenders with a vest. Can you wear suspenders over the vest, or do they need to always be worn underneath and mostly out of sight? Happily, you should wear suspenders outside the vest, unless there’s a strict dress code that forbids it. In this instance, consider suspenders as the last layer to a perfectly layered ensemble. You want everyone to see how great they look with your vest, shirt and pants.

Stylishly Casual

There may be times when you want to wear jeans, but you prefer to dress them up a little with a vest/shirt combination. Suspenders can add a nice finishing touch to a laid-back effortless look. For inspiration, look to vintage 1920s and 1930s retro styles. One idea is to pair a checkered pattern shirt with a solid navy color vest, plaid bow tie and dark jeans with patterned suspenders in a bright color such as red. Or, for something more modern, go with a sharp-looking grey vest over a navy patterned long-sleeve shirt with tan leather suspenders attached to burgundy slacks.

Semi-Formal

Step things up a notch or two by pairing quality leather suspenders with a navy vest, white shirt, and grey slacks, or choose button leather suspenders, a red vest, white shirt and snazzy striped tie with navy slacks. If you want to make this look trendier, allow suspender straps to fall to the sides, which gives this outfit a dash of carefree attitude.

Formal Dress

Consider adding a bit of charm to your formal vest by matching the color of your suspenders with vest color. Let’s say you decide to wear a classic black suit vest and slacks combo with a black tie and white shirt. Black suspenders go nicely with this formal attire.