Pros and Cons of Montrose ans Sheriffmuir coatees?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

And what would be the comments of our Scottish traditionalists on either one... with a clerical collar? I'm wondering about something more formal than my black barathea Argyle (square silver buttons & braided epaulettes).

With either I would suggest preaching banns rather than a Roman collar. (You might also want to consider cloth covered buttons, as well.)

[MacRobert's Reply]

The potential problem if you wear a clerical collar with a Montrose is that the seam in the middle of the notched collar (normally covered by a jabot) will be exposed. Preaching bands, unless they are unbifurcated, will not cover that seam. No such problem with the Sheriffmuir however.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Ok, thanks. I was thinking that a Sheriffmuir would look great made up in a nice charcoal tweed.

Me, too!









As you can see, I have worn mine to quite a variety of occasions. I really like the look of a velvet sheriffmuir, if one were looking for a doublet to wear mainly to evening events. But my tweed sheriffmuir can also be worn during the day when I feel like being a bit "fancy."

The one thing I would change about mine is replacing the rather plain buttons with something with a bit more character. I'm currently on the lookout for ram's head buttons. :-)

[M. A. C. Newsome]

For what it's worth, here is a photo mock up I did when I first obtained my sheriffmuir, because I was curious to see what it looked like with various forms of neck wear. (I also tried out a few with both tartan and a self-colored waistcoat). You'd not have this many options with a Montrose doublet.

[unixken]

Thanks, Matt, for both of those replies! I love the tweed. The the mock-ups are impressive. Thanks again!

[OC Richard]

That's so cool there, Matt!

As usual I take "the long view" of things, and I'm not a fan of the standup-collar formal jackets. Why all of these standup-collar jackets suddenly appeared in the early 20th century who can say, but throughout the last three-quarters of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th century nearly all civilian Highland jackets had ordinary collars with lapels, worn with ordinary shirts of the period and ordinary neckties. The standard jacket was the type which evolved into what we now call the "Regulation Doublet". In the old days it was simply called a Doublet.

Then in Highland Dress catalogues in the 1920s a suite of new jackets appeared, the Montrose, the Kenmore, the Prince Charlie. These are spoken of in old catalogues as being recent inventions and being suitable for young, fashionable men while the traditional Doublet was spoken of as being appropriate for older men. At the same time lace jabots became popular, something very rarely seen in the previous three-quarters of a century. (When did the Sherriffmuir appear? It's not in any of my catalogues from the 1920s and 1930s.)

Perhaps WWI had just concluded and the military-style standing collar was viewed as being fashionable? Or people were nostalgic about the jackets of the early 19th century with their very high standing collars? Who can say.

I myself prefer the c1840-1920 look of the Doublet, with ordinary collar and lapels, over these 20th century jackets with militaryesque standing collars.

Here's an old thread I started, back before I had collected a load of old Highland Dress catalogues... now I know that the style of jacket in question was called the "doublet", but I still don't know what the "Celtic" jacket mentioned in that old Henderson catalogue might have been.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-jacket-55129/

[FatherWilliam57]

OK, Matt...post #23, fourth picture down. Where did you get that shirt and jabot? I love it! And you almost have me convinced my next purchase should be a Sherrifmuir...

[M. A. C. Newsome]

OK, Matt...post #23, fourth picture down. Where did you get that shirt and jabot? I love it! And you almost have me convinced my next purchase should be a Sherrifmuir...

That would be this picture.


You actually can't see the shirt I am wearing in the photo at all. And I can't recall what shirt I was wearing when the photo was taken, so I'm afraid I cannot help you there.

As to the jobot, that's an easy one. It was hand knit in Victorian lace from a Shetland pattern by my lovely wife.
http://newhousehighland.com/jabot.php

[unixken]

Myself, I'd love to know where you may have sourced that beautiful tweed Sheriffmuir. I've looked online, but can only find black barathea.

[Father Bill]

Would I be hi-jacking the thread if I threw the Kenmore into the discussion? I'm thinking Sherrifmuir or Kenmore for my most formal occasions, and again, the clerical collar comes into the consideration.

What says the Great Rabble?