2011年11月18日星期五

The History of Vests and Down Vests

Vests include close-fitting, waist-length, sleeveless garments that button down the front designed to be worn under a jacket, a part or trimming simulating the front of such a garment such as vestee, waist-length garments worn for protective purposes such as bulletproof vests, sleeveless, waist- or hip-length garments made of various materials with a front opening usually secured by buttons, a zipper, or the like, worn over a shirt, blouse, dress, or other article for style or warmth such as sweater vests and down vests.

Vests first appeared in the west world was in the 17th century in Britain during the reign of Charles II for the purpose of undermining the influence from French fashion on one hand and diminishing the extravagance prevailing in the upper class. In China, vests originated from Han dynasty, which was almost 2,000 years from now and then they were advocated in the following dynasties such as Sui and Song and in Qing Dynasty, which was the last dynasty of China, vests even turned into a symbolization of privilege and social status.

One kind of vests is used as a piece of clothing suitable for cold weather, which is called down vest. Down, a layer of fluffy feathers underneath the regular feathers of geese and ducks, can trap air and keep these animals warm in the cold weather. It was said that back to the 15th century Native Americans had already been acquainted with the insulating quality of down and took advantage of this quality, but it was not until the late 1960s that people started to realize the feasibility of down vests. Down vest is a short warm jacket without sleeves which is filled with the soft feathers of a duck or a goose. In history, people started to establish the conception of down vest mainly because of a skier Suzy Chaffee, an American Olympic bronze medalist in 1968 who appeared in front of the public in brightly colored vests.

As time passes by, down vests have succeeded being part of the fashion rather than be cast out. Now many famous brands of down jackets have included down vests on the list of their product such as Moncler down vests, Kathmandu, etc.

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