How common is the wear of a Plaid that is a different tartan than the Klt?

[Jock Scot]

So then it wouldn't be acceptable to wear say a Clan tartan fly plaid with a regional or organization tartan.

Well alright as you are not mixing Clan tartans, then in the case you are suggesting it could be done.

In my youth, I well remember a hot discussion doing the rounds within the Clan on this very subject.It was more of a local Scottish discussion, brought about by the visiting Clan members from all over the world. Reminds me of this website on occasion! Anyway, let me set the scene.

Clan MacLeod was then at the forefront of encouraging worldwide Clan membership and set up a "parliament' that gathered( and still does on the Isle of Skye) every four years. In those far off days those from abroad wore whatever wee bit of Scottish attire that they had, which led to some very odd combinations of Clan and non clan tartans and general attire. It still does on occasion! Anyway there was more than a fair bit of huffing and puffing from those, not all from Scotland I may add, that were of a more conservative way of thinking about these matters and quite a heated discussion ensued for many years.

You may not know, but Clan MacLeod has many tartans, more than 10 I think, so the combinations of tartans were many and various. So on went the discussion for years and as things do, things got more and more heated as more entrenched positions were taken. So much so that the international goodwill that was intended was wearing very thin. Sound familiar?

A very wise local gathered up a special outfit for the clan gathering and from what I remember, he wore a Clan Macleod of Lewis tartan kilt(Macleod of Harris wear it as their dress[formal] kilt), a MacLeod of Harris tartan jacket(cut on the bias), a Seaforth Highlanders Tartan(cut on the bias) waistcoat, some Stewart tartan for his hose and Lochaber tartan for his flashes. ALL of those tartans he was "entitled" to wear.The end result was a riot of colour-----------------and looked dreadfull! It got the message through to the warring factions though.

The point that was made, is that aesthetics are an important consideration when mixing tartans and more importantly, the point was made loud and clear that just because we can do something does not necessarily mean that we should.

From then on. All understood that mixing Clan tartans from outwith the family was a no-no, but within normal and sensible bounds Clan tartans and non clan tartans can be worn together, on occasion.