Tartan flashes: bias or straight?

[Dollander]

Okay, don't close the thread. I'm sorry I overreacted...as I admit I'm prone to do.

Still, it can be frustrating. I'm fully aware that tartan flashes are a recent invention and thus not "traditional". But then, neither is the medium-apron, wide-waistband, 14-pleat RevK kilt I'm making. Same goes for plans for my outfit to be occasionally accompanied by a mini plaid*, and an Irish caubeen with a purely decorative brooch and a small tartan "hackle" rather than the usual balmoral or glengarry with a clan crest badge.

I don't do these things just to be different. I'm sticking with the "pocketless utility kilt" design for this kilt because I like how it looks with a portion of the pleats visible from the front, and probably would've kept to mid-rise with a slope rather than full-rise were it not for wanting the option of including a waistcoat. I added a second button to the front of my Argyll because I thought it gave me a more flattering fit, and replaced the chrome buttons with antiqued pewter because I found it a better match to the rest of my accessories. I bought the caubeen because I prefer the style over that of conventionally Scottish caps, and the mini plaid is likewise so I can add some tartan flair up top if the mood strikes me, without having to deal with the potential awkwardness of a wearing full-sized plaid. And while the idea for the cap brooch came from a desire to avoid redundancy (I already have crest badges on my sporran and sgian), I decided to instead make it a decorative theme with the wooden saltires on my sgian and kilt pin:
accessories.jpg

I understand the conventions involved with full-on formalwear. But part of the reason I've chosen a kilt outfit for regular dresswear is the freedom to be creative with it, to do something that's outside the norm while still maintaining a certain degree of acceptability. Something that actually makes me look forward to opportunities to dress up, rather than begrudgingly putting on a boring old suit when I absolutely couldn't get away with donning black jeans and a sport shirt. So I'm more than bit irked when a certain portion of the community tries to tell me, yes, but don't be too creative with it.



* not a pleated laird's plaid, but a single-width fly plaid that's longer than the jacket but shorter than the kilt (like those offered by House of Edgar)