Suspenders - Wearing Suspenders

Wearing Suspenders

High quality suspenders are usually considered white collar (US), or upper or upper-middle class (UK) wear and are made to be attached to trousers by buttons only. Noted manufacturers include Albert Thurston (sold re-branded by most outfitters), who supply high-profile actors, such as Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond in Casino Royale and Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street and John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood and Louis Tomlinson in the British-Irish boyband One Direction.

In traditional or formal settings, it is considered a faux pas to wear both suspenders and a belt at the same time, though this has not always been the case among all classes in the past. Further, it was considered by some that suspenders are actually underwear and that as such, they should never be seen at all. As was usual before World War II, the waistcoat, or for coolness in summer a jumper or cardigan, covered up parts of clothing then considered improper to be seen, such as suspenders, and similarly jumpers and jackets kept the shirtsleeves hidden. Even before the War, however, men began removing jackets in public, and so this sensibility was eroded. It is perhaps only in Britain that some still consider it "gauche" to wear (for example) brightly coloured suspenders, or suspenders with no jacket. In general however, it is now considered acceptable on both sides of the Atlantic for suspenders to be visible.

The trousers for suspenders have buttons for attaching the tabs, either on the outside (traditionally) or on the inside of the waistband, which does not have belt loops. Such trousers might also have a high back in the fishtail shape, though this is not so common now; this shape has an additional adjuster strap at the back as well as the two side adjusters placed on most belt-less trousers.