I was an early (perhaps the first) writer of the Houston Imperial Court newsletter. My first interview was with a lady, Storm Cloud, who had been a member of the Court System elsewhere. From her look, she was into the Leather community there, too. She had a vest much like this one, but done in black leather, which she called her "iron vest." It called to me, and I started my own.

I was not in the Houston Leather community at that time. We made my vest out of green material for several reasons. I wasn't into Leather at the time we started it, nor even that much into wearing black. I did not want to chance falling askance of any old guard Leather protocols, either.

Protocols for the wearing of Court pins included:
1 - A crown pin could only be worn by a current or past monarch or someone who had been given the pin and permission to wear it by such. Mine was presented to me by the founder of the Houston Court, Laura Lee Love, herself!
2 - Basically all of the other pins were handed to you by a monarch when you attended the coronation at which they step down from the throne. If the monarch had any pins left after that evening, he or she was allowed to give them to other friends and supporters later. This was true both for local and out-of-town monarch.
3 - Friendship pins given to you otherwise and pins which you purchased yourself were not allowed on the vest.

Unlike many of the "iron vests" of other – usually Leather – organizations, Court vests do not have a large patch on the back denoting the organization to which the wearer belongs.