Fishing vests, or utility vests, are a really useful piece of clothing when the weather’s warmer, and not necessarily as weird as you might think. 

I’ve learnt this myself over the past couple of years in wearing the one pictured – a fairly simple vintage vest from LL Bean. I was a little unsure at first, as mostly I’d seen them worn by the likes of Jamie Ferguson or James Harvey-Kelly, both photographers and both often wearing them when shooting. 

But how unusual it looks depends a lot on the style of the vest, I find, and on what else you wear with it. 

The styles of vests run a wide spectrum between fussy and pretty straightforward. Fishing models in particular often have dozens of pockets, some of them impractically small, and things like a fluffy piece of wool on the chest to hold lures or flies. 

Hunting vests are often a bit simpler, with fewer, bigger pockets on the front, but still unusual features like a very large pocket on the rear, for that fowl you just shot. The simplest models are often referred to as more general ‘utility’ vests. 

The other significant way in which vests vary is the collar. 

A lot of traditional vests were worn with collared shirts, and could be expected to sit under a larger jacket. They therefore had no collar at all, like a waistcoat. 

The problem with this is that it’s not that flattering on a lot of guys with just a T-shirt underneath – like wearing a low-collar crewneck over a tee. That’s certainly the case with me. 

So I like a collar, either a full one like the vest pictured on me, or a small crescent-shaped collar on the back, as shown below. It’s a small addition but makes a big difference to how it looks with a T-shirt.

Now, how to wear them. A fishing/utility vest is a little unusual – perhaps very trad, perhaps these days a little street – but a lot of the effect comes from whether they’re worn with a flannel shirt and cords, or a skate tee and cargo trousers. 

Or just a regular T-shirt and jeans, as here.

Even then, black jeans and cordovan loafers look different from blue jeans and boat shoes, as in my two outfits. I wear both, but the black jeans are always going to look a little more modern, a little more urban (below).

There is a tendency among men to look at a piece of clothing in isolation, rather than consider it in context in an outfit. It’s related to the urge to copy an entire outfit from a lookbook, rather than just take one or two elements. 

I know people do this because it’s simpler and more predictable, but I’d encourage them to have a little fun and be experimental. Most personal style comes through this kind of experimentation. 

Hopefully the thing that needs the least explanation about a utility vest is how practical it can be. 

Even a simple style like my one has 15 pockets, with two zippered ones. You can carry around a phone, wallet, headphones, sunglasses, sun cream, cap, pen and keys, and still have seven pockets left. 

It’s also cooler than a full jacket would be, and is often made more so with vents, mesh or some similar ventilation mechanism. They’re very useful; it’s why old guys love them. 

OK, so let’s assume I’ve convinced you of the style and practicality of one of these – or at least picking up a cheap second-hand one and giving it a go. Which would you get?

First of all I’d suggest a few tips on what to consider:

Think about how much detail and what collar you want, as per the examples above.
Look carefully at the chest and length measurements: vests’ practicality means they can be pretty wide, and pretty short. If they are wide, something to cinch the body in is helpful.
Cotton is nicer than anything synthetic, in my view, because vests look particularly nice when they age, and you don’t need a particularly light weight or quick drying fabric.
If in doubt, go simpler, and that includes the beige pictured as the simplest colour. Darker ones like navy or black might seem easier, but this should be the default in summer.

There are quite a few modern versions out there, from classic-menswear brands to more streetwear-orientated ones. Coherence does a high-quality one, for example, as you’d expect. Drake’s does unusual colours as their ‘safari vest’. Sirplus, at the cheaper end, does a very sober utility vest and Barbour always has a few. 

On the more fashion side, ALD has done a few interesting ones in recent years and currently has a fun madras version. Kenzo has quite a cool ‘workwear gilet’ and Universal Works is good for easy, simple designs.

The best ones are usually vintage on eBay though, from LL Bean, Eddie Bauer and the like. They’re cheap, made to last, and often have good character already. 

When searching on eBay, try using broad terms, searching patiently and looking internationally – there are far more in the US than elsewhere for example.

Sellers might not always know what they have, so it’s useful to try as many keywords as possible – use a comma inside parentheses to act as an ‘or’, for instance “(fishing, hunting, utility) vest” will bring up listings for vests that also have one of those keywords. 

For brands, look up the likes of LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, Columbia or Orvis. Despite being quite fashionable, old vests remain a bit niche, so unlike vintage denim or military jackets, there’s plenty of availability and prices are cheap. More fashion brands like Ralph Lauren or even Tommy Hilfiger also have good ones, but less reliably. 

A few we found today: 

Orvis ($10, XL)
LL Bean ($30, L)
LL Bean in stone ($24, XL)
LL Bean in military green ($42, M)
Columbia with a good number of pockets (£30, L)
Beige Levi’s (£63, S)
Vintage Ralph in military cargo ($199, XL)