I think it would be impossible for me to have a "take on tradition". Either something is traditional or it is not. It really does not matter if that tradition is 10, 100 or 1,000 years old, the very word means passed down from one generation to the next. There is nothing stopping me from wearing whatever I want, but it is not my place to declare it traditional, even in part.

I have seen a few black and red jabots, mostly in the goth/vampire scenes. One thing I think I would not here is that rarely have I seen those worn with a coat and if they are it is not a black coat. I think that to wear a black jabot with traditional highland wear (which almost always includes a black coat) it would get lost and really end up not being either traditional or esthetically pleasing. The photo's showing other colors added in, show them with a dark green montrose and the black one gets lost and the red one looks almost comical.

Recently I was invited to a formal political event, that was listed as black tie optional. I did not attend but saw many pictures and all I can say is that the variety of what was worn was quite broad. I would assume such an invitation to mean black tie, and if not something dark and relatively formal. The number of brightly colored and patterned ties (for those that bothered with them) and the number of light colored jackets really showed that even in saxon dress, we have lost touch with any sense of formality.