An article on men's waistcoats of the eighteenth century, tracing the form from the doublet through the veste, veston and gilet, with attention to changes in cut under Louis XIV, XV and XVI. It discusses the embroidered, woven, printed and quilted waistcoats shown in a loan exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, their decorative subjects, and the Lyons embroidery industry. It also mentions the designers Philippe de Lasalle and Jean-François Bony. Illustrated with photographs of waistcoats and a sketch for waistcoat embroidery attributed to Bony.