INVESTMENT DRESSING : Actor Blair Underwood in a Collection of Season-Brightening Vests

HERE’S A WAY to wear the same basic black suit to every holiday party and never get caught: Wear it with vests. Owners of men’s specialty shops say vests are the hottest fashion item of the season. Designers are showing them in jewel tones that do for a basic black suit what rubies and sapphires do for a little black dress. Conservative dressers will do best with the classic option: a black velvet vest, a crisp white dress shirt and a black satin bow tie. The wider and more natural the shape of the tie, the more romantic the effect. Some designers also are showing vests with black turtleneck sweaters, mock turtlenecks or crew necks. If jewel tones seem too adventuresome, try silver; most men are accustomed to wearing the black-silver combination. Traditionalists may complete the look with a white dress shirt and a black bow tie. To break with tradition, a Mandarin-collar shirt looks new. Actor Blair Underwood of “L.A. Law� always wears a suit, and occasionally a vest, on the show. But off the set, he admits, “I’m most comfortable in blue jeans.� He does own one holiday vest--a red wool plaid, which he takes out with his Christmas decorations each year.

Grooming: Margaret Kimura / Cloutier; stylist: Joanna Dendel; location: The Castle Green Apartments, Pasadena