On TV's The Untouchables, Eliot Ness and his fellow feds are attired each week in what was practically the civilian uniform of the big, bad Twenties – the three-piece wooly suit with matching vest. Feds and felons alike wouldn't be caught dead without a properly-buttoned vest, and it was indeed a sartorial hallmark of the era. Gathered here for a special Playboy shooting, Robert Stack and a couple of cronies model the new breed of vests: elegantly contemporary, eminently non-matching and damned good looking. Stack's own is a wool weskit by Hylo, $12. The shotgun-bearer sports a checked number by Carroll & Company, $25. The machine gunner's vest is a foulard by Moss Sportswear, $9.
The Untouchables' touch with vests is reflected below in a whole array of strictly-1960 versions, from the classically simple to the richly flamboyant. Worn with the new country suit, the vest can match on one side and contrast on the other. A variation is the matching vest and jacket, with the trousers the contrasting item. You can go from there to a matching coat and trousers and supplement them with a reversible vest, one side coordinating, one side contrasting. Whatever your preference, here are the fabrics to watch for: wool (including Shetland and tweed), leather, corduroy, velvet, flannel, tie silk, madras, doeskin, hopsacking, burlap, brocade and jacquard. Styling ranges from the standard six-button models with pointed bottoms and traditional four pockets, to those with four or five buttons and rounded or straight-across bottoms. Double-breasted vests reflect English and Continental influences, and are wholeheartedly recommended. Regardless of your choice, two practical points are pertinent: when there's a nip in the air, there's extra warmth in the waistcoat – and its handy pockets serve a host of purposes. In our line-up of armed agents, you can survey, from left to right: an imported etched-pattern cotton Heeksuede vest, reverses to rust, with flap-faced pockets, adjustable back strap, by Marshall Ray, $10. Gold velvet vest, reverses to brown cotton velvet, with two flap-faced, two welt pockets, foulard print back, by Mayhoff of Baltimore, $15. Cotton tattersall vest, reverses to wine-color cotton velvet, by Moss Sportswear, $10. Madras plaid corduroy vest, reverses to bronze, adjustable back strap, by Marshall Ray, $8. Cotton velvet vest with matching lining, open side vents, three welt pockets, by Hylo, $15. Silk rep vest with black lining, open side vents, four welt pockets, by English Sportswear, $15.
