National Suspenders Day 2023

Today is National Suspenders Day, a day to celebrate suspenders and braces! Have you been wearing them lately? I sure have! 

 

Today I’d like to share some of my current favourite pairs of vintage pants and the braces that I wear with them.

 

Vintage Brown Pants
A long time ago, I bought a fantastic pair of vintage, brown pants. However, I don’t think brown would go well with my other clothes, so I didn’t wear it much. But recent I’ve been wearing more brown colours. These pants are so comfortable. They have pleats and sit high on my waist – about 2 inches higher than my belly button. This requires that I wear braces with them, which the pants were historically worn with.

 

Vintage brown pants with thin braces

The brace buttons are positioned above the main pleat and above the side seam, which slants forward slightly. This is very comfortable, and supports the pleat and seam, keeping the pant legs very clean.
The rear has two sets of buttons – one pair closer together for Y-back braces, and one pair farther apart for X-back braces. This gives options and is a nice touch. As the buttons are on the inside of the waistband, people don’t see the unused set of buttons.

 

I was recently wearing these pants with a vintage pair of thin, blue braces, with red stripes running down the side of the straps. The leather tabs are brown, which goes well with the transition to the brown pants. 

My wife and I went on a date to a restaurant and then planned to walk in the nearby park. My wife prefers when I wear thinner braces, and when she saw me wearing this pair she said, “those are vintage pants and braces, I like them.” She ran her fingers up and down the front straps. The straps have lots of elastic stretch in them still, so they stretched out with the tension. She released them and the straps snapped back lightly onto my chest.

“Vintage braces for vintage pants,” I said.

She smiled and tugged on the straps again. 

“You know I like the thin ones,” she said as she released the straps.

 

Rear shot of brown pants with braces

We had a wonderful dinner and then walked around the park, looking at the sunset. As we stood side by side, she had her hand on my back at my rear braces. She turned to face me and tugged on my front braces. 

“I really love these braces,” she said, tugging on them again. 

 “I’m glad you like them,” I responded, “I like them too.”

 

Stripped Navy Pants

Another favourite pair of vintage pants is navy with faint, thin stripes in a darker navy and off brown colours. Unless you are up close you can’t see the stripes in the fabric. The waistband sits very high – three inches above my belly button. The rear seam of the waistband is slightly separated, almost like a fishtail back, but without rising higher.

 

The rear waistband has a small gap

The brace buttons are sewn on the inside of the waistband in the perfect locations: front buttons above the main pleat, which is reverse pleated (very vintage), and above the side seam. On the right hand side of the waistband, between the two brace tabs, there’s a small pocket for a waist-watch, which is very neat. The rear buttons are equally spaced at the back and, with the waist gap, allowing for the waistband to accommodate my breathing. The waistband expands and the brace tabs expand when I inhale. When I exhale, the brace straps ensure that my waistband stays in place. 

 

Stripped braces with vintage stripped pants

 

 

The pockets of the pants are positioned at the side seam, so when I put my hands in them and I’m wearing a suit jacket, the jacket is pushed to the side and both front brace tabs are shown. My wife likes this look. 

Hands in my pockets

 

As my waistband is suspended, there’s a small gap between my chest and waistband, which helps with air movement.

I like to wear vintage, stripped, V-back, inverse-V braces with these pants, as the stripes on the braces coordinate well with the stripes on the pant fabric. The braces are V-back, as they do not have the single strap at the rear, which Y-back braces have. This shows that this pair of braces is very old and vintage. The front brace tabs also show vintage signs as the centre tab is slightly longer than the side tab, allowing the brace straps to sit slightly to the side of my chest.

 

I usually wear a brown, tweed suit jacket that’s speckled. When my wife and I go out, I receive lots of compliments on this vintage look. 

With the suit jacket on

 

One day we were out on the town and were stopped on the sidewalk. A young lady asked to look at my ‘fancy suspenders’, as she called them. She had never seen a pair like this before. I pointed out the V-back and compared it to the Y-back. I also unhooking the right, front brace tab from the buttons to show the longer leather piece. She was amazed. I hooked my brace tabs back on and proceeded to show her the watch-pocket and other features of the pants.

 

The center tab is longer than the side tab

 

You are so stylish, she said, as she asked for a photo with us. I smiled and agreed.

 
After the photo, I had my hands in my pockets. The young lady asked if she could pull a suspender strap. That was polite, as people simply grab hold and pull.

Sure, I said smiling, everyone loves to do that. I opened my jacket and she pulled back a strap, holding it for a moment, and then releasing it.

Thank you, she said, you’ve made my day! I love your look and your suspenders. I’m going to get a pair for myself.

That would be awesome, I said.

We smiled and my wife and I continued on our way.

 

Grey pants

Another pair of my favourite vintage pants is solid, light grey, made of tweed fabric. The rise is high – above my belly button and the waistband is a bit large on me, so I’ve always worn this pair of pants with braces. I like to wear these pants with a multi-colored, stripped, Y-back braces or black, inverse-U tab, Y-back braces. 

 

As the fabric is thick, I wear this pair in the fall and winter months. I coordinate it with a navy or brown blazer.  As I warm up inside, I remove the blazer and remain stylish.

 

Grey, wool pants with stripped braces

 

One Thanksgiving dinner I wore these pants with inverse-V tab, stripped braces. As we sat down to eat, one of my brothers pulled back a front brace strap, watching the strap junction slide along the inverse-V tab. He let go and it snapped back, but landed off my shoulder. 

 

That’s enough, I said, as I positioned the strap back onto my shoulder. My wife walked by and pulled on my rear strap saying, I’m the only who can play with his suspenders!

 

Rear shot of stripped braces

 

After dinner, the larger waist helped with the large meal. My brother loosened his belt a notch. I took the moment to slide my thumb up and down my brace straps and smile as I said, these help with large meals too!

 

We laughed.

 

Light Blue Pants

And last but not least is a light-blue pair of Hollywood-waisted pants. The pants are made of 100% cotton and have an integrated belt loops in the waistband. I need to wear the pants with braces to support them at the right height. I sewed buttons on the outside of the pants. I love wearing this pair with my stripped blue braces as the colors go so well together.

 

Hollywood waisted blue pants with braces

 

This is an unusual pair of pants and I usually get a few heads turning, but that's fine. The buttons on the outside make a statement and signal a by-gone era.

Rear shot of pants and braces

What are some of your favourite outfits to wear with braces?