The Mens Braces Thread - Page 3

TM Lewin £24 - made by Albert Thurston (although leather quality not as nice as the AT range)

On the contrary, simply a satisfied customer.

Yeah my loops had one end tucked underneath the waistband.

Wait there's a rule they shouldn't be seen? I take my jacket off all the time. Couple of the older folks at work always tell me to show those suspenders off anyway. Those fellas are all a mile above my pay grade. Might be a cultural thing though, they all dress alarmingly similar to Delroy Lindo's character in Chicago Code (http://youtu.be/DCxvfah20hw). I sorta like seeing em, used to it I guess.

Thanks for the lesson, I hadn't tried to remove that kind before, but now that I look at some, yes it would be well worth $20 for that.

And people say I'm wasting time on the Internet! Look at all I learn.

I'd only do that if I had enough material leftover from some kind of alteration/having the suit made to have side tabs made as well. I just think that makes things more versatile (I sometimes wear a suit w/o a tie and wouldn't do so with braces; or imagine traveling light and accidentally breaking the one pair of braces you brought with...).

This is the problem I found with my T.M. Lewin suits, and I must admit to being lazy and leaving the loops on. Again, if you keep you jacket on or wear a waistcoat, it doesn't matter overmuch.

I'm aware that cuts differ between trousers made for braces and those made for belts, but I have had buttons sewn into a number of pairs of the latter and it seems to work, so I would suggest to the OP that he need not go out and buy a new wardrobe just yet!

eBay can be a good source of secondhand and vintage braces; although Thurstons and the like turn up quite seldom, they can be quite cheap (£10 or less for two pairs is my best score, £12.50 despatched) and, as has been said before, charity shops and vintage clothing stores can be a good source. If you want to try the experience without spending too much initially, one of my favourite pairs were ex-army, 1940s vintage, which I got for £4 and used more or less daily whilst I was at university until they wore out a good few years later.

Consider Thurston's barathea braces too; they are comparable in price to the boxcloth, lighter in weight and just as hardwearing.

It is not good to show braces to the world (save in certain financial markets where red braces were de rigeur). The modern open plan heated/air conditioned office has really killed the wearing of braces for so many although they remain the ideal way in which to wear trousers.

I've never understood this rule either. What is the point in buying fun braces (suspenders) if they are not supposed to be seen? If this is really a rule, shouldn't they all just come in tan or black or some other boring color?

^^ I agree. I have started wearing braces again with regularity and remove my jacket when I get to my office. I think wearing my jacket all day in the office would make me stand out more than wearing braces.

A lot of dressing well involves doing something for your own pleasure and amusement.

Anything that smacks of trying to show off was considered vulgar

I actually prefer my BB braces to my Thurstons, but I may purchase more from Thurston anyway just because they also do custom work. The yoke is so high on my Thurston braces that it's almost between my shoulder blades; therefore, it shows up as a bump in my suit coat. The yokes on my BB braces are low enough that they are hidden in the small of my back. Much preferred.

I believe that in generations past suspenders were considered part of a gentleman's underclothing and thus he never exposed them, especially to ladies, except the one he was intending to sleep with.  Today that view might be a tad dated, though given some of the wonderfully scandalous patterned suspenders I've seen lately, leaving the coat on at work might be the politic choice.

But in such times past, weren't most, if not all, of a "gentleman's" suits three-piece? In that case, even removing one's jacket wouldn't expose such "unmentionables" as braces, nor would pushing aside one's jacket to fetch something from a trouser pocket (which I can only imagine equivalent to today's women bending over and giving the thong shot).