It’s a sprawling, ever expanding list of images and references. Together they cumulatively point to an item that has been worn with careful intent: whether daring, polished, comfortable, disheveled, uniform, sexy, androgynous, or some combination of the above. Of course it has not always been a simple item to put on – historically defying not only convention, but also various restrictive laws surrounding gendered clothing. But it has also offered plenty to its wearers, from defiance and reclamation of tradition to the pragmatism of cleanly tailored lines to an undeniably camp glamour. It hasn’t always looked good (as with so many other garments, the noughties styling of waistcoats largely feels like a low point), but has often been full of great possibility: Just as fitting whether one is eight and costumed as a pirate, 28 or so and immortalized in a portrait wearing a silk tie, or 84 and living out an existence purposefully and peacefully, in a beautiful house in Wales alongside the woman they’ve built a life with.