Correct shirt for semi-formal (aka, back tie)?

[OC Richard]

The 1990 international ban on international trade or transportation of ivory (only affecting CITES member nations) is still in effect but has been watered-down a bit with some ivory trade being allowed.

A big change was a musical instrument exemption, so you should no longer have things like the string orchestra who got a lot of their instruments seized (many violins etc and/or their bows have tiny amounts of ivory).

Then there are the internal US things like the ban on sealskin (the Marine Mammal Protection Act) and President Obama's Executive Order banning the buying, selling, or possession of any ivory "worked or unworked" within the US, which as far as I know is still in effect. (This is not connected to the international CITES law.)

The level of proof the US requires is too high for most bagpipes to meet, for example I had a set of Glasgow-made pipes c1905 with ivory but I had no documentation as to when the pipes entered the US. In fact there's no way to prove that ivory mounts are original to a set of pipes unless you have the original bill of sale, which the vast majority of pipes made in the late 19th and early 20th century lack.

There's an internal UK ban on ivory but I don't know if it's in effect.

About the evolution of Evening Dress in Scotland, here's a group of Scots, all of them having worn kilts since they were lads, some of them having worn kilts during military service, at an Evening do several years ago.

Only half are wearing the traditionally required patterned hose, and only one is wearing the traditionally required shoe buckles. However all are wearing traditional Evening sporrans- happily no "semi dress" sporrans are seen.



Almost exactly a century earlier we have the gents below. Three men are wearing doublets as opposed to only one man in the photo above. None of the gents below are wearing Prince Charlie coatees. None of the gents above are wearing plaids or dirks.

We see Ghillies in both photos, but a century ago all appear to be fitted with buckles, however small.