The Ghillie Shirt

[PatrickHughes123]

Patrick,
Panache is only mentioning that the rest of your outfit is a higher standard of dress than the ghillie shirt. The stuff you've bought looks good! Very good in fact. The sporran is quite fancy with the chrome cantle and all - excellent for a business or more formal event. The detractor to what you already have (which is impressive) is the ghillie shirt. You've a few options for kilted dress from what we've seen in pics thus far. Here are two suggestions: 1. With your ghillie shirt, go with a less formal shoe, or even a boot. Try the look without the belt, just to remove the chrome element from your waist. Maybe you can find a nice wide belt at a thrift shop, or perhaps find a good deal on a dull(er) finish buckle. A very plain (very inexpensive) sporran might fit the look better. There's lots you can do to meet the look you want that need not cost much at all. 2. With the brogues, try a shirt and tie with the belt. Can look quite sharp. Try a nice pullover with or without a collared shirt and with/without a tie - dependent on pullover collar style, of course. This can be a very nice look for an afternoon out and about, or when looking to impress (for whatever reason). This isn't suggested to change your look, only to let you know that what you have can make this look work quite well.

Not everything has to come from a kilt shop. The more time you spend reading the threads and experimenting with what is already in your wardrobe and in other non-kilt shops, the breadth and depth of your "kilted looks" will develop and expand to suit you and the events you care to wear it. That is what I've been doing and I have found it very helpful.

IMO there's no need to get another kilt (re: 1 kilt, 10 looks thread), and giving up on kilt wearing now would be a shame since you've some very nice stuff already.

What about wearing it with brown Ghillie Brogues? See, I look at the brown ones and get the impression it's more informal than the black ones. I want to wear Ghillie Brogues with the shirt. I wouldn't wear buckle brogues, they're too formal. I was thinking something like brown brogues with red or blue hose.

[FossilHunter]

What about wearing it with brown Ghillie Brogues? See, I look at the brown ones and get the impression it's more informal than the black ones. I want to wear Ghillie Brogues with the shirt. I wouldn't wear buckle brogues, they're too formal. I was thinking something like brown brogues with red or blue hose.

I think brown brogues would look good. But I would consider regular brogues over the ghillies. They’re just more sensible shoes.

Like these:

https://www.gentlemen-prefer-brogues...rown-392-p.asp



I think they look quite nice and the price isn’t bad. Good tread for outdoors too.

Personally I wouldn’t wear solid red hose with the royal Stewart tartan. I feel it is too much red. Diced works but then the red is broken up with another color. I think green, blue, and mustard would look great though. Just my opinion though.

[PatrickHughes123]

FossilHunter, I meant a different shade of red. Slightly lighter red. This obviously won't be soon as I don't want to spend anymore money right now regardless of price.

[McMurdo]

FossilHunter, I meant a different shade of red. Slightly lighter red. This obviously won't be soon as I don't want to spend anymore money right now regardless of price.

Patrick, I have had a Royal Stewart kilt for some time now, my mother is a Stewart and the price of the cloth was a deal. I had Barb Tewksbury make it. My point is I rarely if ever wear that kilt with red hose I think the closest I've ever come to that is to wear diced hose with red and white or red and black. Personally I wear any other colour but red with it. For example something like this works wonderfully with the Royal Stewart, as would green or blue.



I find it is a great idea to take one of the secondary colours of a tartan and use that for hose colour etc.

[PatrickHughes123]

McMurdo

Yes, considering the tartan has some blue in it, I had an previous idea to that where I wore dark blue hose with Royal Stewart tartan flashes

[Tobus]

What about wearing it with brown Ghillie Brogues? See, I look at the brown ones and get the impression it's more informal than the black ones. I want to wear Ghillie Brogues with the shirt. I wouldn't wear buckle brogues, they're too formal. I was thinking something like brown brogues with red or blue hose.

I'm partial to brown brogues for daywear. I know that black is the more popular choice for Highland-style footwear, since it's more versatile for both daywear and evening dress. But brown leather, in my mind, has a much softer and casual effect while still looking smart. I don't own any brown ghillie brogues, and prefer just regular brogues.

If you're stuck on only wearing ghillie brogues, so be it, but keep in mind you can wear them without the laces going up the leg. Just swap them out for regular shoelaces, and it can dress down your footwear somewhat when needed.

I would mirror FossilHunter's opinion on red hose (no matter the hue) being a bit much with that bright Royal Stewart tartan. This is personal preference, of course, and it's the fun part of accessorising with a kilt. There's so much room for personal style or flair when it comes to mixing and matching colours of the non-kilt parts of your wardrobe! Blues and greens go well with your tartan, and shades of brown and khaki can be surprisingly pleasant too. Once you get away from white hose, it opens up a whole new world.

[PatrickHughes123]

I'm partial to brown brogues for daywear. I know that black is the more popular choice for Highland-style footwear, since it's more versatile for both daywear and evening dress. But brown leather, in my mind, has a much softer and casual effect while still looking smart. I don't own any brown ghillie brogues, and prefer just regular brogues.

If you're stuck on only wearing ghillie brogues, so be it, but keep in mind you can wear them without the laces going up the leg. Just swap them out for regular shoelaces, and it can dress down your footwear somewhat when needed.

I would mirror FossilHunter's opinion on red hose (no matter the hue) being a bit much with that bright Royal Stewart tartan. This is personal preference, of course, and it's the fun part of accessorising with a kilt. There's so much room for personal style or flair when it comes to mixing and matching colours of the non-kilt parts of your wardrobe! Blues and greens go well with your tartan, and shades of brown and khaki can be surprisingly pleasant too. Once you get away from white hose, it opens up a whole new world.

Yes, I thought that to be the case. I'm not going to put normal laces in them, as I do not find that appealing. Would I be right in thinking that black ghillie brogues with the ghillie shirt would be the kilt equivalent of 'smart-casual'? I realize this look would be better with the brown ones but just wondering. Because I've been doing some thinking on this, and I believe that this would make a smart-casual look without breaking the developing tradition of the kilt, it would just be my own style and innovation while adhering to the developed tradition.

Personally, I believe the ghillie is a smart shirt and looks great when done correctly. I know the shirt is extremely informal and the black brogues are formal, so I imagine this would give off my desired look of smart-casual and romantic.

[Tobus]

Would I be right in thinking that black ghillie brogues with the ghillie shirt would be the kilt equivalent of 'smart-casual'?

...

Personally, I believe the ghillie is a smart shirt and looks great when done correctly. I know the shirt is extremely informal and the black brogues are formal, so I imagine this would give off my desired look of smart-casual and romantic.

To be honest, when I think of "smart-casual", the ghillie shirt doesn't even enter into the equation. Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes a "smart" (or its equivalent "sharp" in the USA) look. For myself, I don't see how a shirt could be smart at all when it can't be buttoned up and worn with a tie. As you said, that shirt is extremely informal. It's meant to look outdoorsy, quaint, and folksy. It's designed to be worn with the laces loose, and open at the neck. Lacing it up and tying it closed still wouldn't come close to the smart look of a traditional collared button-up shirt with overlapping seams at the buttons.

Mixing the folksy ghillie shirt with other items that may have a dressy appearance doesn't really up-scale the whole outfit. It just becomes an odd pairing of different levels of dress. Neither fish nor fowl, or perhaps fish and fowl fighting with each other.

[PatrickHughes123]

To be honest, when I think of "smart-casual", the ghillie shirt doesn't even enter into the equation. Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes a "smart" (or its equivalent "sharp" in the USA) look. For myself, I don't see how a shirt could be smart at all when it can't be buttoned up and worn with a tie. As you said, that shirt is extremely informal. It's meant to look outdoorsy, quaint, and folksy. It's designed to be worn with the laces loose, and open at the neck. Lacing it up and tying it closed still wouldn't come close to the smart look of a traditional collared button-up shirt with overlapping seams at the buttons.

Mixing the folksy ghillie shirt with other items that may have a dressy appearance doesn't really up-scale the whole outfit. It just becomes an odd pairing of different levels of dress. Neither fish nor fowl, or perhaps fish and fowl fighting with each other.

Well I see it as wearing a Saxon suit with a t-shirt or a shirt with the top button undone, that's smart-casual when it comes to suits. In Highland Dress, I believe smart-casual would be Ghillie Brogues with the Ghillie Shirt for very informal events such as social events, sports matches, parties/family-get-togethers, pub sessions, birthday parties, etc. I personally would wear this to Highland Games, which I will do the next time I get a chance to go to one. I believe I've found something that will work.

I've outlined, in my view, the perfect smart-casual-romantic Highland Dress outfit, taken from advice on the forum;

(1) - Optional head wear, Glengarry or Balmoral.
(2) - Ghillie Shirt.
(3) - Kilt with day sporran or hunting sporran, either black or brown.
(4) - Coloured hose with flashes.
(5) - Sgian dubh.
(6) - Black or brown Ghillie Brogues, done to match the sporran.

No fly plaid. No feather plume.

[Tobus]

Well I see it as wearing a Saxon suit with a t-shirt or a shirt with the top button undone, that's smart-casual when it comes to suits.

Wearing a suit with a standard dress shirt unbuttoned (and no necktie) does seem to be a casual approach to smart dress, I agree. But there's an important element here. It's taking standard dress items and "down-dressing" them for a casual look. That is, to me, the definition of smart-casual. I would define it as a more casual way of wearing dress items.

But that's completely different than trying to "up-dress" casual items. A t-shirt with a suit may be popular these days in certain circles, but it comes off as a counter-culture look, not smart-casual. The mixing of a casual t-shirt with a dressy suit is a jab at traditional dress, not simply a relaxation of smart dress. Does that make sense?

And this is where I think the ghillie shirt fits in (or rather doesn't) with smart-casual. It is trying to "up-dress" a folksy style, and the context just doesn't fit. So it comes off looking like a jab at traditionally recognised forms of dress.

Again, if you have chosen this to be your personal style, that's your business. But the perception by others will likely not be that it's smart-casual.

I think everything else on your list could probably fit smart-casual. It's just the shirt choice that seems out of place.