Nicholas Daley Utility Waistcoat

A waistcoat with pockets this size is not a tailoring garment pretending to be useful. It is a working vest, and what stands behind it is fishing gear, photographers’ vests, and load-carrying military kit rather than anything from a suit. The pockets hang off the front rather than lying flush. Both sides are open from the hem to the armhole and closed with three ties, which means the garment never has to fit closely to work and will go over a shirt, a sweater, or a jacket without fighting any of them.

Doing that in linen, and in a mustard and yellow check, is the part worth noticing. Linen is a cool, dry, unstructured cloth, so a vest cut from it hangs rather than stands, and the pockets sag slightly under their own weight in a way waxed cotton or canvas would not permit. It makes the garment softer and considerably less military than the pattern implies. The yellow finishes the job. Between the two, the workwear reference is present and thoroughly disarmed, and the waxed cotton detailing is what pulls it back toward utility before it goes too far.

Why we selected it

We took this because a summer vest is a genuinely useful thing that almost nobody makes, and because a mustard check in linen is a colour we could not find anywhere else. The tie sides are what make it work: it goes over anything, at any weight, without adjustment.

Tie fastenings and open side seams recur through Nicholas Daley’s layering pieces, and the Utility Waistcoat is where they are most useful.

Materials and construction

Body one hundred percent linen. Detailing one hundred percent waxed cotton. Made in England. Large overhanging pockets, open at both sides to the armhole, three tie closures per side. Colours: mustard and yellow check.

Fit notes

Open-sided and tie-fastened, so size matters less here than on almost anything else he cuts. It will go over a shirt in summer or over a knit in autumn and adjust to both. Linen relaxes across a day. Take your usual size and expect the fit to be governed by how you tie it rather than by the label.

Styling

Over a plain white or ecru shirt with the Pleated Trouser in khaki. Over the Abstract Truth T-Shirt for something more casual. Yellow check is the loudest thing here, so plain everything else.

Care

The waxed detailing is the constraint. Do not machine wash or dry clean without warning, because wax does not survive either, and sponge the waxed sections with cold water only. The linen body would otherwise wash easily, which is exactly the trap. Have it cleaned by someone told about the wax. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Utility Waistcoat in khaki is the same waistcoat cut entirely in waxed cotton. The Knitted Vest in light blue is the hand-knitted layer, the Work Cardigan the cardigan, and the Wide Beach Short the linen short. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.