Modern suit and sport jacket styles with kilts

[wildrover]

Let's see what we might get out of this...

Guitarmatt posted an awesome link in the Kilts in the Media forum which I think is worth a repost here:

http://permanentstyle.blogspot.com/2...s-costume.html

I picked up a sport coat the other day...first one in the closet that's actually mine and not a hand-me-down...and the guys helping me had a lot of suggestions for really making the kit look good. Bear in mind the "kit" I'm talking about is a pair of Artful Dodgers and some Frye's as opposed to a kilt, sporran and Docs/GBs/random kicks...but I thought the suggestions they had, in general, would work just as well with a kilt.

Also, the same website Matt posted had this article:
http://permanentstyle.blogspot.com/2...ifference.html

Which only lead to more kilted pondering, as I considered not only the silhouette of a well-cut jacket, but things like the thickness of the turndown on a pair of hose, or a hose top, bulk of calf compared to knee, and the contrast between our rough, dirty, hairy, scarred, sometimes bloody, knees (what we show with a kilt) and the smooth skin of a woman's thigh (what she shows with a skirt). We got a lot to consider...pants seem so much easier. That's a tangent, tho, I really wanted to talk about sport jackets and shirts.

The style the guys were showing me was a dress shirt with a sleeve slightly longer than I'm used to, allowing the option of keeping it buttoned, or opening the cuff and rolling it back over the jacket to expose a cuff liner which contrasts with the body of the shirt.

Does anyone wear this style with their kilt? How do you guys think it would look?

Let's see where this goes. I'm interested in talking about any of the stuff I've mentioned here, not just the jacket/cuff style. It'd be a great entry to this thread, I think, if it works:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ne-kilt-57176/

-Sean

[Bugbear]

I don't think I would care for the shirt-over-cuff part; though that is how I mistakenly first thought the jabot cuffs worked.

However, I do have a corduroy kilt jacket and waistcoat, which I modified from a suit jacket, that does not have the Argyle type cuffs or the epaulets. I liked it that way. The main thing is that the jacket have higher pockets that are about half as deep as the pockets on a suit jacket, and that the jacket have both side vents and a flare out from the waist down; that would be a bit like the pinched waist from that blog artical, I think.

[wildrover]

Got a picture?

Sorry, I don't have any pictures of my own yet, and when I do, I suspect they'll be photoshopped since I don't have the correct sort of kilt jacket yet.

I'm curious why not the turned-out cuffs with sport coat and kilt. With pants, it adds a more casual, or sometimes gentler, look to boots ('cowboy' style, btw), big (not necessarily dressy) watch, and modern dark, highlighted jeans. It adds balance, somehow.

Maybe it softens the look too much, with a kilt? Or would hose and sporran need to be dressed down a little to pull it off?

I'm not committed to making this work, just curious if the modern cut and style of a good sport coat and nice shirt would work.

Maybe I should have posted this in the 'Kilt Talk' section.

-Sean

[Bugbear]

I'm sorry, wildrover. The sleeve over cuff could very well work for you if you like the way it looks on yourself. I was only saying it would not be what I prefer to wear.

I removed all of my pictures from the forum last year, but I can say that it didn't seem to bother anyone that there were no Argyle cuffs or epaulets. Just a plain look.

[Livingston]

I would have to say no to that. It is just way too casul for my liking. I prefer the classic length of just showing past the cuff of the jacket.

[guitarmatt]

To change the direction of the conversation a bit, I'd like to mention a point brought up in the first link about when style becomes costume. Note that he felt his outfit became a costume even before he added the bowler hat, moustache and umbrella. I think that goes a long way towards illustrating the importance of dressing conservatively when wearing something as distinctive and, to be honest, as unusual as the kilt.

It also shows that if you want to look like a nut job, which we all occasionally do, you don't have to try as hard as if you started with jeans.

[wildrover]

That is a very good point, Matt.

Sometimes it's best to simply be blunt .

-Sean

[MacLowlife]

WANT to look like a nut job? Is there a choice?

[Bugbear]

WANT to look like a nut job? Is there a choice?

No, there is no choice, MacLowlife.

However, I do prefer to be subtle about it.

[guitarmatt]

The dreads mark me out as a bit of a nut job myself. My wife laughs now that I'm dressing more stylishly, because I'll look really slick from the neck down with crazy hair all over the place up top.