Quote Originally Posted by episcopalscot
This thread raises a very good question: what about those tartans with a lot of black in them, such as "Black" Stewart, and my own tartan, Cumming/Buchan Hunting Ancient? If you follow the old rule of no mixing black and brown, then a brown day sporran, belt and shoes would look "odd" with these tartans.
I am not Ham, but I have to agree that if color coordination were important, I would stick to wearing black shoes/accessories with tartans that contained a predominant amount of black.

I have a kilt in the Campbell of Argyll Weathered tartan that looks good with either black or brown sporran and belt because it contains both colors in roughly equal proportion within the tartan. With it I have to wear all black or all brown accessories, never mixing the two. That said, I do look fine wearing a pair of shoes that are black and brown two-toned.

Color coordination is a very interesting (and admittedly subjective) topic. Some colors go together very well, but sometimes it depends on what you want to do with them. For instance, a solid colored shirt and tartan combination that might make for a smashingly good synchronous look, could appear a bit suspect were they reversed so that the kilt were the solid and the shirt the tartan. It can matter which is on the top and which the bottom.

As a small aside, since receiving my black wool TFCK 6 yarder, I love pairing it with tartan patterned flannel shirts. In another thread from a few months ago, Ham had recommended that black wool is very versatile. I have to concur with his assessment.

Mychael