Plaid with a regular suit?

[davidlpope]

Meanwhile, in Aberdeenshire:

http://tranquilitytown.yolasite.com

[Taskr]

[QUOTE=deloceano;1342740] ...

It appears that if I am not wearing trad highland wear in exactly the way and settings that I "should", then I am considered a phony, or in bad taste. This seems to be quite elitist to me, and I would like to think that this community forum is somewhere that people can express their own individuality, - where discussion of "correct" traditional wear can also happily intersect with discussion of more expressive wearing of kilts.
... QUOTE]

Deloceano,

While it can get a little stuffy in there on occasion, please do note that there is more than just the traditional wear sub-forum. There 's lots of stuff going on with fashion, and the kilt gets swept up in that too - maybe a bit more so because of a popular TV series. My experience has been that within the rules of decorum there is a place for every kilt wearer (and want to be kilt wearer ) on this forum. Welcome, and enjoy.

[KMCMICHAEL]

I am more guilty than anyone of wearing a kilt casually. But we should be thankful for the Advice of Jock and others regarding Highland attire. I am retired, colorblind and rarely wear shoes but when the occasion calls for it I will seek the advice of these experts...so I can avoid the embarrassment of my wife!

[Nomad]

Wear the kilt how you want as long as you feel comfortable. I will admit that I have seen some sights that I have thought "what the hell are you thinking of" but this is generally when people have tried to dress in 16th century type style and completely messed it up.

I do not have the pedigree of jock in kilt wearing and agree with much of the advice he offers, on the other hand I quite like much of the casual wear I have seen on here. The best advice I can think of is that you should try not to mix formal and casual unless you are sure it looks good, scruffy can look great as can formal, mixing them can be disastrous , that said no one is going to lock you up for getting it wrong.

If offered advice, don't take offence and feel free to ignore it if you want.

[deloceano]

Thanks for the responses folks. Yep, Jock's knowledge and advice on trad highland wear is definitely appreciated! And nice to see others offering different options as well. I've had a bit of a look at the other forums such as contemporary kilting, and it's great to see people expressing their different styles and opinions on the site. I've just never been one who is great with set "rules"! 😉
Actually, that's one of the reasons I love wearing a kilt... Men's "dressed up" fashion is usually so rigid as to be deathly boring... black suit, white shirt, tie. A kilt is a step outside those rules into something more expressive and meaningful for me.

[OC Richard]

Meanwhile, in Aberdeenshire:

http://tranquilitytown.yolasite.com

That's way cool, but way too green!

Are there any places in Scotland that have our US southwest appearance?

(Dodge City, Kansas)



I'm not sure if people outwith the southwestern US know the various ways our heritage has held on. It crops up here and there, one thing being shops that merely say BOOTS on the sign, you go in and there's a thousand different kinds of cowboy boots.

A big thing here is the popularity of the SAA, which due to the anti-________ (I dare not say the name) on this site, probably to mention what SAA stands for, or to give a link to their site, would get me banned. I'm not sure that the SAA's activities would even be legal in the UK. But it's a small taste of the Old West that's still alive and well.

[davidlpope]

That's way cool, but way too green!

That's exactly what I thought!

[OC Richard]

when people have tried to dress in 16th century type style and completely messed it up.

That's what always strikes my eye.

I like to learn about things, the history and origin of things, learn about historical dress and get a sense of the look of each time period.

Your eye gets used to what things go together, and which things don't.

Some of the things one sees at our local Highland Games are so mixed up that it would be hard to top it even on purpose:

- mixing Highland civilian and military dress

- mixing Highland Evening Dress and Day Dress

- mixing various time-periods (say, 18th century and High Victorian and modern)

To do all three at once is quite a feat, but one that I see often.

Like a guy wearing knee-high moccasins, a Utilikilt, a ruffled pirate shirt, a Prince Charlie coatee, with a huge 18th century Claymore strapped to his back, a Victorian style dirk strapped to his waist, with 1980s eyeglasses, and a diced Glengarry with a big hackle in it. (Actually the pirate shirt with a Prince Charlie is surprisingly common, I see it at every Games.)

[OC Richard]

that's one of the reasons I love wearing a kilt... Men's "dressed up" fashion is usually so rigid as to be deathly boring... black suit, white shirt, tie.

Yet our modern Evening Dress is just about that rigid and boring, at most of the events I've attended. Yes you have the different tartans of the kilt which helps a great deal, but from the waist up it's a sea of black Prince Charlies with white shirts and black ties.

Didn't used to be that way. Back in the 1920s and 1930s the Prince Charlie was only one of several Evening Dress jacket styles which had recently been created, and it was common to see Evening Dress jackets in a variety of colours. For whatever reason in the post-WWII period the black Prince Charlie became extremely popular which ousted the other styles and colours. (Yes the others still exist to this day, but just aren't seen as often as they used to be.)

One time I when I was hired to pipe and a Robert Burns supper I wore a charcoal tweed Argyll jacket just to be different. Yes I was the only man not in a black Prince Charlie.

Back in my 20s I had a claret velvet Montrose Doublet I wore to formal things, just to be different.

[OC Richard]

Back to the original topic, tartan with a regular suit.

There's always this, a tartan suit.



Or tartan trim on a black jacket



If these were my options, I would go with this, like many people do