Shift in meaning or just lost in translation: Can a piece of clothing go from statement to trend?

Credit Alina Matveycheva, image via pexels

This year, the waistcoat is one of the most popular items in women’s fashion. Tailored, minimal and confidently cool, it’s showing up everywhere from Pinterest boards to the streets of the city. It feels like you can’t go outside without seeing one. How did the waistcoat go from gentlemen’s fashion to ‘corporate girlie’ trend? Once a symbol of men’s authority, it later became a feminist statement, and now it is just part of the spring/summer trend. It is undeniably a popular item.

The waistcoat as a women’s item is very versatile. On a hot summer day, a breezy, linen piece can be paired with a skirt for a casual outfit, but to the office, the choice might be the traditional tailored version with matching trousers. It is part of a feminine, yet structured style. It signals a kind of taste, confidence and trend awareness.

Interestingly, you see men wearing them as part of their suit, a very elegant, formal look, and women wearing them as a casual summer piece at the same time. The same item, yet with completely different messages. One speaks of tradition, the other speaks of trend. This contrast raises a deeper question: does a single piece of clothing change meaning over time? Can it carry such different associations depending on who wears it and when?

Originally, the waistcoat was part of a strict male uniform, symbolic of tradition, professionalism, and social order. But when women began wearing it, they weren’t simply borrowing a piece from the men’s section. They were using it to say something. The waistcoat became a form of visual language—no longer signalling traditional masculine authority, but closing the gap between gendered clothing.

Think of Annie Hall. In the movie directed by Woody Allen in 1977, Diane Keaton’s character’s style is known for menswear-inspired fashion, clothing items that were initially meant for men, worn by a woman. She wears oversized items, men’s shirts, loose blazers, baggy trousers, and the iconic waistcoat (Find the look here). Annie Hall’s character breaking through traditional feminine norms and embracing a masculine-inspired style inspired millions of women. The waistcoat became a symbol of feminine individuality, allowing women to embrace their own style without conforming to traditional gender roles as they navigated the changing roles in the late 1970s. Annie Hall’s style continues to inspire fashion, with many, including brands and designers, still referencing the style.

In that shift from menswear, the waistcoat became fashion. Not just clothing, but something alive, something that could express, evolve, and change. Instead of signalling continuity, the maintenance of the status quo, it became something that emphasises discontinuity. Once adopted by women, the waistcoat lost its fixed meaning. It no longer belonged to a single gender or culture. It became something that could change and it continues to move. Today, the waistcoat is making a comeback. It no longer makes a statement, but it says something else. It doesn’t carry the message from the wearer, but about them. It reflects aesthetic fluency, trend awareness, and a sense of currentness. The message is style.

This change in its message is not a loss; it is a transformation. It just shows how once an item becomes fashion, it changes meaning over time. It evolves with those who wear it. What was once a symbol of boldness can settle into something softer, more familiar. But that doesn’t make it empty. It means the language has evolved.

Like any language, fashion relies on context, repetition, and reception. When we all start wearing the same item, its meaning shifts, it is no longer a statement. It gains something else: a shared cultural moment. The waistcoat is no longer a statement, but a sign of confidence, minimalism, and style. A woman in a waistcoat no longer raises eyebrows, a marker for how far women’s fashion has come. The current significance of the waistcoat lies in its ease of wear and its current trend status.

Fashion moves with us. A piece of clothing can simultaneously tell history and change. The waistcoat we wear today is something new, yet it still carries a piece of history. It has shifted in shape and meaning, and it continues to do so every time it returns to trend again.

Shift in meaning or just lost in translation: Can a piece of clothing go from statement to trend?

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