Some pictures (finally) and observations

[Troy]

That style of tie is called a Continental. As Troy mentioned, it became somewhat fashionable in the late-50s/early 60s, & is considered an acceptable substitue for a bowtie with a tuxedo (of course, you'd need to wear a laydown collared tuxedo shirt with the Continental rather than the more common wing-tip collar tuxedo shirt). It's also sometimes referred to as the Crossbow tie. I'm not sure of the origin of the tie, but it has long been popular with the western-wear crowd (as well as Arizona's official state tie, the bola tie). Personally, I've always considered it a classy looking tie.

Thanks for the info and pics, Retro Red.

I used to wear the tie quite a bit when I was hanging around on the rockabilly scene. I was also known to wear a Texan bow on occasions, and had a small collection of bolos. I'm a bit of a sucker for the classic 1950's look.

Keep on rockin',

Troy

[Troy]

Thank you for the suggestions for creating the casual look with the Cornish National. I am with you, but I have never felt that black or white are very casual 'colours' and was hoping that you might have come up with something else! Still, I don't HAVE to wear it casually - I do have others!!!

A light grey marle t-shirt might just work. I have a long sleeved version with a 'grandpa' collar (much like an old-fashioned undershirt) that I might try on to see how it looks.

I don't have any tops in cream or oatmeal, but that might work also, but I'm sure anything too yellow would probably clash with the base colour of the tartan. On that subject, I was glad to see in your photos on your website that the base colour of your Cornish National is the same as mine - when I received the kilt I was expecting a more yellow/gold colour - but I'm not disappointed, as it is certainly an interesting and attractive colour.

As yet I haven't had the pleasure of wearing my kilt in the company of others wearing the tartan, and my memories of the colours come from attending Kernewek Lowenders (Cornish Festivals) many years ago, back home in South Australia and seeing many fine kilted Cornish gentlemen. I always hoped to have a kilt in 'my' tartan, but back then very few mills wove it and it was very hard to get here in Australia.

I hope to get hold of a 'Cornish' sporran one day, but as with everything else, finances are the issue.

Until next time,

Kernow bys vyken!

Troy