As the Autumn begins I thought a simple discussion of suspenders (braces for you Brits) might be of interest.
Specifically the debate about clip-on or button fastened ones. This debate has raged in re-enactor circles quite a bit.
Enjoy
The Victorian Society of Alberta
Clip-On vs. Button-Hole Suspenders Is it okay to wear clip-on suspenders?
From the Gentlemanual
Are clip-on suspenders hopelessly tacky? If a
man is going to wear suspenders, should he stick exclusively to
suspenders with button-hole tabs? These are good questions, and they
deserve good answers.
Clip-Ons Aren’t Traditional… Or Are They?
Clip-on suspenders have been around
since 1894, and the argument “One shouldn’t wear clip-on suspenders
because they’re not traditional” is difficult to sustain. With over a
century’s worth of history, they’re as classic as any “classic” could
be. Scroll through collections of old photos and you’ll see clip-on
suspenders in abundance, from the Millennials of 1900 to the ruffians of
original punk rock. Heritage isn’t the issue. The real problem with clip-ons these days is two-fold.
First, many of the big stores that
sell everything from fertilizer to frozen french fries sell clip-on
suspenders in their menswear departments. Marketplace ubiquity,
affordability, and ease of use are the main virtues of mass-produced
clip-on suspenders, most of which are made of semi-elasticated material.
It is precisely this wide-distribution of low price clip-ons which
gives rise to concerns about their street-cred.
When belts (and buckles) returned to
the forefront of fashion, clip-on suspenders continued to appeal chiefly
to three sorts of men: those who were accustomed to suspenders but
never got on board with button-fastened ones; those who didn’t give a
damn about actively presenting “a look;” and those whose style-sense
tended to be at odds with trending notions of what counted as
fashionable. Today the situation is a little dire. To put it bluntly,
too many men wear clip-on suspenders with get-ups that make fashion
police wish they were packing more than disapproving grimaces.
Clip-on Suspenders are old-school. That’s not the problem.
And that’s the second issue: all
clip-on suspenders suffer a bit from guilt-by-association. It’s unfair,
perhaps, but that’s just how it is, and a man
wearing clip-on suspenders risks finding himself in the same situation
as the man who wears a clip-on bow tie: if you’re going to wear a bow
tie (argues the purist), you should take the time and make the effort to
learn how to tie one;
and if you’re going to wear suspenders, accept the extra expense and
hassle involved with adding buttons to the inside of the waistband of
your trousers and wear button-tab suspenders. This is one school of
thought.
Continued at this link
