Piper's plaid with something other than a doublet

[Barb T]

Awhile back, someone posted a thread about wearing a piper's plaid with an Argyll jacket (http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-jacket-45062/). I'm resurrecting the question, because I can't see how it would even be possible to actually put on a pipers plaid properly unless the garment has serious epaulets, like those on the doublets that pipers wear with piper's plaids.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about a pleated piper's plaid like the ones below:



These plaids are pleated and permanently stitched across the width of the plaid in several places (see yellow lines below - pic comes from Chris Eyre's Piping Pages http://www.eyrewaves.co.uk/pipingpages/plaid.asp, so they are very different from a laird's plaid or a fly plaid.



The following video shows how one of these bad boys is put on properly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ytc6LqWyms - the short end of the plaid starts out in the front, and the long end starts out in the back and is pulled forward over the shoulder at the end of the process to be held with the broach. The epaulet seems to me to be critical - without it, you can't get the whole thing tight with the short end tucked in the back. I asked my daughter about it (she's in the middle of the pic above), and she can't see either how it would work without a serious epaulet.

So it seems to me like it's a moot point. Even if you wanted to wear a piper's plaid with something like an Argyll jacket, I don't see how it would be possible. Yes, I know that Argylls and Prince Charlies have decorative epaulets (which don't unbutton), but I can't imagine stuffing two thickness of a piper's plaid under one of the epaulets - at least I can't imagine it with my own band Argyll jacket. But is this what people do if they wear a true piper's plaid with something other than a doublet?

Or do they just not wear them properly? Do they wrap them around and just pin them with the short end hanging in the front and the long end in the back and not do all the other steps?

Or is it just a question of terminology, and the kinds of plaids people are talking about aren't true piper's plaids?

Would love to have someone help me on this and let me know if I've slipped a gear somewhere in my reasoning!