Soon to get my first ever Kilt, suggestions on how to mix up the looks?

[J Ross]

One of the things that's struck my eye over and over is how the beauty of a tartan can be diminished by wearing hose and/or jacket of a colour the same as one of the main ground-colours of the kilt. This tends to suck the given colour right out of the tartan. On the other hand wearing a colour that's shifted from one of the kilt's main ground-colours, especially if more saturated, can amplify that colour in the kilt and make the tartan 'zing' even more.

I used your POV to explain this to my wife as I modeled for her the other night (now that was a role reversed!). She thinks like me: everything should coordinate, etc, etc. But I can see now that it's all about wear the viewer's eye focuses. If, for instance, you wearing the IOS the eye will be drawn to the rich purples. If you're wearing a purple tie (as I was) it gets drowned and the focus is spread from the neck to the ankles. With a contrasting color it does give it that 'zing' as you say.