Informal evening wear...

**Spartan Tartan** · 25th February 13, 06:08 AM

If it is an afternoon (then evening) wedding event, I think your lovat jacket is perfectly fine. Wear it and relax and enjoy the day. You could bring a spate tie, as has been suggested, if you feel it necessary. But stick with your tweed for this event,... just my 2 cents.

**sailortats** · 25th February 13, 06:46 AM

I too have a lovat blue tweed jacket and I wear it to any "informal" event be it day or evening where I think a jacket is necessary. To my mind a black argyle jacket would be too formal for a casual evening event.

**MacMillans son** · 25th February 13, 07:09 AM

Although there is no precedent for it in the Highlands, where a tweed is a tweed is a tweed, you could buy a dark blue, charcoal, or black tweed jacket for those times when a lovat green seems too "bright". That would be a North American twist that may meet you comfort level, while not deviating from the traditional applications of various fabric or styles. That is what I have chosen to do to address your exact concern.

Best of luck!

**CMcG** · 25th February 13, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by Nathan

... I have a lovatt green argyll with horn buttons. This is generally referred to as day wear. If I'm out at a non formal event, such as a wedding reception (as a guest, not in the wedding party) or at a scottish pub at night, would my lovatt green jacket and tie be correct as a suit equivalent or do I need to go out an buy a dark argyll with silver buttons for events that take place indoors after dark?

Finally, when would it be most correct to wear the sherrifmuir with jabot and cuffs? This seems over the top to me, but are there contexts where this is the must have attire?

A tweed Argyll is often referred to as a day wear jacket, but don't be bothered by that; it is not exclusive to daylight hours and covers the range of both a suit and a sportscoat/blazer. It is ideal for both a wedding and the reception. You could also wear it to the pub, but around here you might feel a bit overdressed, especially if you were wearing a tie.

Your Prince Charlie, however, is an evening wear coatee, which is traditionally reserved for events that occur after 6:00 PM. Recently, it has become more common to see evening attire worn during the day, when an event calls for formal wear, but formal day wear (aka morning dress) actually calls for a dress Argyll (black barathea with silver buttons).

A Sheriffmuir doublet with jabot and cuffs is best suited to white tie (aka full formal) and is evening attire. Some people might wear that rig for black tie evening wear too, but it seems a bit much to me and looks better when the Sheriffmuir is worn without the jabot and cuffs, perhaps with a cravat at the neck.

So day wear doesn't preclude wearing that clothing in the evening, but evening wear means formal attire that is traditionally worn at night. Darn it, that IS confusing

Here is me outside the church at my friend's wedding in December. I was the best man and he asked me to "dress nicely," but not formal or black tie. He was wearing a dark suit.
IMG_1398.jpg

And at a midweek pub night a few days before Burns Night, with fellow Xmarker Singlemalt. This was taken at The Caledonian with the (unkilted) whisky rep who was doing a tasting.
CamFrankColin.jpg

**MacLowlife** · 25th February 13, 09:10 AM

MacMillan said something about a theoretical Highland Gent who has the perfect outfit for every nuance of occasion. I believe such a person exists in the form of Prince Charles, the Duke of Rothesay. There are threads around somewhere devoted to his many kilts, uniforms, and get-ups. What I have noticed is that the Prince will wear what appears to be the same jacket with different middle layers, i.e., sweater, waistcoat, none... I think that is the key ( along with shirt and tie combination ) to getting a clearly defined range of formality with just the one jacket.

I agree with you, Nathan, the black Argyll seems to be pretty dressy and not always in a good way. If one has it, then fine. If you are looking for something else to buy, why not a navy flannel (or other fabric) " day" jacket? Here in the American south, it is nearly possible to manage with just one navy blazer year round, especially for indoor events, but I would imagine you'd like one for the kilt to correspond with your other seasonal wardrobe. Meanwhile, I'd consider strongly a couple of waistcoats to coordinate and contrast with your kilt and Argyll tweed jacket.

You can see elsewhere discussion of checked shirts, textured ties, and the like as intermediate ways to dress up or down a little.

**creagdhubh** · 25th February 13, 09:35 AM

Well put Scott, Colin, and Matt. I couldn't agree more.

Cheers,

**Nathan** · 25th February 13, 10:19 AM

The advice so far has been very helpful.

To be clear, I am not talking about a specific wedding, but rather a scenario that is bound to come up in the future. I was trying to see if I had already purchased enough jackets for most situations or if yet another was necessary. Trying to pinch a penny but don't want to look uncouth if there is a fellow Scot in the room with kilt know how.

I'm sure the tweed would pass muster to the non-kilties in the rooms to which I'm typically invited, but I'm really aiming to see if this is a 'done' thing. Typically, here, only the wedding party wears black tie (they usually do so even in the day time), so I wouldn't envision my Charlie ever being appropriate for such an occasion.

I suppose in the end, it would be better to have the dark argyll mid-range option. Like I said, if I wasn't wearing a kilt, I would wear a business suit to such an occasion whether or not there were some folks in khakis and an open collared shirt. Everyone has relatives they have to invite to such things and not all of them have the means, opportunity, familiarity to own the appropriate wardrobe. I don't typically follow the lowest common denominator in such cases.

In any case, it seems the tweed will get me by until I buy more appropriate evening attire. Although the point is well taken that if the event starts in the day, the tweed is good to go.

Originally Posted by madmacs

I'm confused here, are you talking about a specific wedding here? One which is "semi-formal" ? In which case your tweed argyll should be suitable, or are you talking in general terms of weddings? In which case the tweed will be suitable for some and the PC for others...

Or maybe I'm missing something...

In my experience here in the midwest you could turn up to most weddings I've been to in jeans and a t-shirt and not be too out of place... Of course you could also ask the bride/groom which they would prefer too.