talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect

They Say:
The Magician is seen wearing a normal waistcoat, buttoned at the front and worn showing out from under an open jacket. The magician turns to his table to take a prop from the table top. Upon turning back to the audience the waistcoat is seen to have changed colour.

This is repeated once more later in the programme and a third time. The effect may be presented on its own or as a novel running gag which may be performed ad infinitum throughout a show.

The final effect of the Waistcoat allows the final colour change to transform the waistcoat displaying a choice of one of three designs: Red, White and Blue stripes, or the national flag of the country - In the United Kingdom the "Union Jack" and in the United States, the "Stars and Stripes".

Full details here: http://www.magicwaistcoat.com/index1.html
Demo viodeo here: http://www.magicwaistcoat.com/video.htm


Cost

£160.00 Sterling - €235.00 Euro - $295.00 U.S
Postage: UK - £6, USA - $24, Europe - €15


Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

At a basic level this is an easy "1", just about anyone could execute the changes convincingly with ease. With more handling practise the changes will get faster, smoother and consequently, more visually stunning.


Review

As a close up amateur hobbyist, this sort of thing is not my normal cup of tea. Nevertheless, as I have a couple of "black tie" ball's coming up towards Christmas at which I will doubtless be expected to perform a little magic at the table, I thought I would give this a try on the off chance that it might be suitable to wear underneath the DJ!

I ordered the "Union Jack" version and it arrived reasonably promptly within a week (with an apology for the short delay from Lee as he had been away performing in Turkey when I placed the order).

I unpacked the waistcoat and was immediately impressed by the quality of the materials and workmanship. Naturally I couldn't wait to try it on and so with only a brief glance at the instructions I donned the waistcoat and within moments was delightedly performing fast colour changes in front of the dog (who, frankly, didn't seem that impressed). A quick study of the instructions and a little practise later and I upgraded from the dog to the wife who was, fortunately, a lot more impressed and even rewarded me with an “OOOOOH” and a round of applause (very rare from Mrs Pudding!), I didn't even get so much as a bark from the dog! The mechanics of the waistcoat are a dream! Easy and fast to execute and no flashes of the wrong colour when each change is complete. I'm really looking forward to using this and experimenting with the different suggested ways of covering the change.

After the initial "New Toy" phase had died down, I set to studying the enclosed instructions in more detail. The waistcoat comes with a detailed and well written sixteen page manual. A lot of time and effort has gone into the production of the manual which covers everything you need to know from the 'Basic Effect' and the 'Anatomy of the Waistcoat' to a large number of detailed 'Alternative Presentations'. If this isn't enough information for you, you are also given access to the Magic Waistcoat forum for more feedback and ideas. Although the manual is comprehensive and extensive, it is not daunting in any way and the operation of the waistcoat is simplicity itself so deep study of the manual is not necessary to get started.

So what does the waistcoat look like! Well, it is not advertised as being suitable for normal evening wear so I was sceptical as to whether it would be practical for my own particular application. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it actually looks quite good under a dinner jacket (if you don't mind the bright colour). Close scrutiny will give away that the waistcoat is not entirely normal but unless your dinner guests are exceptionally sartorially aware then I doubt they would notice anything too odd. I suspect that within a brief time they will be too drunk to care anyway! I have toyed with the idea of getting a tailor to make me a normal waistcoat to match the first colour of the magic one so I can wear that for most of the evening and then change into the magic one shortly before I want to carry out the changes but I'm not sure that it's necessary. I'll reserve a final judgement on that one until I have worn it some more. Naturally, none of this will matter to the professional performer who will not be under as close scrutiny as someone like myself who intends to use it as formal wear!

You would, perhaps, normally only think of using an item like this for a stage or cabaret performance of some sort. Think outside of the box for a moment though and I reckon that there are countless situations where you could effectively use this. OK so it might not suit the serious mentalist but it's a dream for children's entertainers. I’m sure it would enhance many a close up magician’s repertoire too and an easy, fast reset means you could easily use it for table hopping if it suits your style.


Overall

A fairly expensive item I guess but when you consider the quality of the workmanship and the fact that this is a genuinely substantial and usable piece of kit with big impact then I consider it excellent value for money. The only factor you have to consider is if a 'Colour Changing Waistcoat' will fit into the sort of magic act you do. If it doesn't then change your act... it's great!

A solid '9' out of 10 from me!

Great review.

I have actually really been considering one of Lees waistcoats lately. I'm doing a show in Jan, and wanted to give this a go for it. Already have tons of ideas in my head how to do some changes.

as luck (bad luck) would have it though, the truck is in the shops to the tune of $1500, and this will go on hold for a bit.

I know it is adjustable.. but how did it fit you when you received it? (assuming you went by the ordering size guide). Pretty true to what is listed on the website?

Hi Joe,

I wear a UK size 42 jacket so ordered the 'Large' (which is actually the intermediate of the three sizes available - M, L & XL). Large is supposed to be for UK jacket size 42-44 and it is pretty much spot on I reckon, it would easily fit someone a size or two bigger than me and I can tighten it in the same way as a regular waistcoat to get it to fit me well.

Hope that helps & sorry to hear about the truck!

Cheers,

Great review Keith.
These waistcoats are certainly expensive and from your review it sounds as if they are impressive as they look.
It would be interesting to hear how this effect goes down with your audience.

I kept looking at these, by your review it seems ideal for me

stephenmagic wrote:I kept looking at these, by your review it seems ideal for me

If you have any questions about it, Stephen, feel free to pm me.

Thanks, Keith.

does suck about the truck, but what do you do? paid that thing off 3yrs ago now, so I can't complain too much I guess. better than having $300+ payments a month.

least it's running smooth as silk now.

just need to find that money tree before Jan to get one of these waist coats

I guess, Christmas is just around the corner.. haha.