Soon to get my first ever Kilt, suggestions on how to mix up the looks?

[J Ross]

In other words I like to have things contrast rather than match.

It's definitely a personality things for me. And by personality I mean OCD. I like matching colors.

I look forward to testing your suggestions though.

[Mikilt]

It's definitely a personality things for me. And by personality I mean OCD. I like matching colors.

I look forward to testing your suggestions though.

I am the same way. I like to match and complement. Here is a pic of some flashes that I knit for my R'lyeh tartan

IMAG0099.jpg

[J Ross]

I just got an OTR, Casual, IOS kilt today. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the red tie with the tartan.

I'll be posting a few pictures in the 'Show Me' section in a few.

[OC Richard]

I was surprised how much I enjoyed the red tie with the (Isle of Skye) tartan.

yes yes YES! Come to the dark side!

Not only do I like claret hose with IOS, I also like wearing a scarlet tie at the same time... just the reverse of the way I thought about things back in the 1980s when I wanted everything to match.

Here's a thread about me going from matchy-matchy to the idea of co-ordination and juxtaposition... my evolution only took around 30 years!

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...0-years-77108/

One of the things that's struck my eye over and over is how the beauty of a tartan can be diminished by wearing hose and/or jacket of a colour the same as one of the main ground-colours of the kilt. This tends to suck the given colour right out of the tartan. On the other hand wearing a colour that's shifted from one of the kilt's main ground-colours, especially if more saturated, can amplify that colour in the kilt and make the tartan 'zing' even more.

With IOS, claret functions as a more saturated version of the tartan's brown, strong royal blue functions as a more saturated (or at least shifted) version of the tartan's purple. Anyhow I think that's the optical thing going on.

The other extreme, perhaps, is wearing mid-grey hose with certain tartans, the grey functioning as a far less saturated version of one or more of the tartan's colours, dulling, muting, and washing out the tartan.

[J Ross]

One of the things that's struck my eye over and over is how the beauty of a tartan can be diminished by wearing hose and/or jacket of a colour the same as one of the main ground-colours of the kilt. This tends to suck the given colour right out of the tartan. On the other hand wearing a colour that's shifted from one of the kilt's main ground-colours, especially if more saturated, can amplify that colour in the kilt and make the tartan 'zing' even more.

I used your POV to explain this to my wife as I modeled for her the other night (now that was a role reversed!). She thinks like me: everything should coordinate, etc, etc. But I can see now that it's all about wear the viewer's eye focuses. If, for instance, you wearing the IOS the eye will be drawn to the rich purples. If you're wearing a purple tie (as I was) it gets drowned and the focus is spread from the neck to the ankles. With a contrasting color it does give it that 'zing' as you say.