Graduation ceremony and colors, need some advice...

[Kinth]

Hi, and happy new year to all of you,

I come to you for a question concerning a suit, and particularly the choice of colors for my graduation ceremony's suit...

The things I'm sure of:
- I have only one kilt, a "Heavyweight black shadow tartan" kilt.
- I have a pair of black kilt hose, which I plan on wearing, especially because the only other pair that I have is white, and it would draw too much attention to the fact that I only have "traditional" suit shoes, not Ghillie Brogue...
- I'm going to wear a Prince Charlie jacket;
- I'm going to wear a bow tie, and an adapted shirt with cufflinks;

The things I must still decide:
- I'm buying a Sghian Dubh, not sure of the color yet, but probably blue, so the "matching color" I'll be talking about will be matching this.
- I need your advice on wether wearing flashes in "Black Shadow tartan" or "matching color"
- I need your advice on the colors of the shirt and bow tie. I want one of them to be in "matching color", and the other to be black (preferred) or white. The question is: colored shirt and black bow tie, or the contrary?
I'll be ordering everything in a few days, so I need quick answers ! Thank you for your time and your help !

Patrick

[Cygnus]

- I have a pair of black kilt hose, which I plan on wearing, especially because the only other pair that I have is white, and it would draw too much attention to the fact that I only have "traditional" suit shoes, not Ghillie Brogue...

Ghillie brogues are certainly not a necessity - in fact, there are many traditionalists that strongly dislike them. Black hose certainly are better than white, but you could go for blue as well if you wanted to add some colour.

- I'm going to wear a Prince Charlie jacket;
- I'm going to wear a bow tie, and an adapted shirt with cufflinks;

Is your ceremony in the evening? If so, the Prince Charlie should do the trick. If not, you may consider going with an Argyll jacket with a four-in-hand tie instead.
And what do you mean by "adapted"? I'm not sure I understand that, but a shirt with double cuffs and cufflinks is perfectly appropriate.

The things I must still decide:
- I'm buying a Sghian Dubh, not sure of the color yet, but probably blue, so the "matching color" I'll be talking about will be matching this.

Do you have an example of a blue sgian dubh? Do you mean it has a blue stone in the handle or something else?

- I need your advice on wether wearing flashes in "Black Shadow tartan" or "matching color"

I'd go with "matching colour" here, as I'm not a huge fan of tartan flashes.

- I need your advice on the colors of the shirt and bow tie. I want one of them to be in "matching color", and the other to be black (preferred) or white. The question is: colored shirt and black bow tie, or the contrary?

Traditionally, the shirt would be white and the bow tie black (or white if the ceremony is very formal) - there's really little room for deviation from this standard. If you must deviate from the norm, I'd go with a blue bow tie and white shirt with double cuffs and turn-down collar.

And congratulations on your graduation!

[Kinth]

Hi Cygnus,

First of all, thank you for your answer, I'll try to tell you more about your interrogations.

- My ceremony is in the evening, and so is the party, so I chose the Prince Charlie over the Argyll, especially because I find it better-looking (and most french people are not able to differenciate the uses of the two anyway).

- I'm planning on buying a blue-stonned Sgian Dubh, as you suspected.

- The question of "tartan flashes" is here very close to "plain black flashes", as it is a Black Shadow tartan, so only the weaving "draws" the lines, the color is plain black, and it needs full light to be visible.

- Fact is: I'm not fond of white, and I don't hesitate to differ a little from the standard when I feel I can... As there is no "mandatory dress code" for the event, and my kilt/suit/jacket/hose/shoes are going to be black, I feared that a white shirt would seem strange on me by being the only white thing... I was planning on a "full black" look (as I nearly always am in full black), with only one secondary color (blue) highlighting the set; so a Royal Blue shirt with black bow tie (I love royal blue), but I then asked myself: "why not a black shirt with royal blue bow tie"... That's why I'm asking for your opinion (I even have a white shirt on the side "just in case").

[Jock Scot]

White shirt, black bow tie is the way to go, forget matching or black shadow tartan flashes, try red. No need for a SD.

[Nathan]

White tuxedo shirt and black bowtie with a Prince Charlie. Do otherwise at your own peril. If you want to go all black, at least wear an Argyll with a dark shirt and long tie. Not my preference, but better than bastardizing black tie attire with a coloured business shirt which is not appropriate for formal attire like the Prince Charlie.

If you're going to deviate from the norms, nobody can stop you, but then, why ask?

Plain flashes are preferable to tartan. Blue on the black hose would be rather nice or Red as Jock mentioned.

[MacRobert's Reply]

Any colour of shirt with a PC, apart from white, will appear rather strange when you look back at your graduation pictures in 10 or 20 years time. If you must wear blue, let it be the flashes.

Congratulations on this achievement!

[Carlo]

To go with the things you are sure about, I would add:
-No Sgian Dubh / Maybe a nice kilt pin with some blue in it?
-Matching colour / There is enough black in the rest of the outfit. I personally would go for something flashier, but that is a matter of taste.
-White shirt and black bow tie / It's classic, go with it.
-If you want something matching, go for a matching pocket square or a matching boutonniere.

I hope that helps, if not you might consider Perceval
Congratulations

[Kinth]

bastardizing black tie attire with a coloured business shirt which is not appropriate for formal attire like the Prince Charlie.

I've been unclear: the shirt I intend to wear will be a tailor-made custom shirt, with tuxedo collar and cufflink wrists, just another color, not a business shirt... But I get your opinion, thank you for your answer !

[Jock Scot]

Of course go for a dress shirt(UK terms)formal (everywhere else?), but white is still your best option, but please, PLEASE get a dress shirt with a turn down collar.

[Kinth]

Edit: I'll have to find out what's a Tuxedo collar, as I was confusing with turn-down ones when I answered Nathan.

Edit 2: ok, I'm definitely too tired, I can't even read and asked the difference between a turn-down collar and a turn-down collar... Sorry, I'll come back tomorrow.

Edit 3: ok, let's do this: are "wing collars" suitable? Here they are the standard choice with bow ties... And my white "just in case" shirt is a wing collar one...