Favourbrook's ladies' waistcoats, meticulously handmade in the UK, reimagine this classic garment as a stylish daywear accessory but also as a bold evening essential, worn bare against the skin beneath a 'Le Smoking'-style dinner jacket, paired with flowing palazzo pants or silk trousers.
Women's waistcoats trace roots to the 17th century, emerging as embroidered underlayers in Jacobean England around 1600, when upper-class ladies defied formality by layering kyrtles and petticoats with ornate vests for informal allure. By the 18th century, they adorned riding habits symbolising equestrian independence. A revolutionary twist came later that century, as French women donned menswear-inspired waistcoats in protest against sumptuary laws, blurring gender lines. The 1920s flapper era amplified this idea, pairing waistcoats with trousers, while suffrage movements in the early 20th century cemented them as emblems of empowerment. Today, we revive this spirit, transforming waistcoats into modern talismans of feminine power.
