Jacobite Waistcoat?

[duke_19_62]

g-pic4d40a36d45ffe.jpg Would a jacobite Waistcoat be useful, apart from a Renaissance Faire? Granted, wearing to a Renn Faire is reason enough for me. but the question is would I have much opportunity to wear it other times, without looking too silly? (Full disclosure: the picture is from www.heritageofscotland.com)

[tpa]

If it is any help, my daughter bought me one, for Xmas, and my wife got her to return it! She prefers me in casual kilt wear with a normal leather waistcoat if appropriate. (See my avatar) She did not think there would be enough occasions on which I could wear it to justify the cost and I agreed. It was also quite thick leather and could quite quickly become uncomfortably warm if warm indoors.

Picture from eBay.
Jacobite vest.jpg

[piperdbh]

I think a waistcoat like that would a Ren-faire only kind of thing. It would look very odd worn under a jacket.

[ASinclair]

I think it would be great for Renaissance Festivals/Faires and Re-enactments, but for 'normal' kilt-wear, not so much.

[MacRobert's Reply]

This is a costume item, very loosely based on a 17th Century doublet. Those who wear traditional highland dress tend to avoid them, reenactors of the Jacobite period avoid them but they are occasionally seen at ceilidhs with the costume "Jacobite shirt". For fancy-dress events they should be fine.

[duke_19_62]

Thanks for the input, I look forward to more.

[Chas]

Would I have much opportunity to wear it other times, without looking too silly?

Sorry - no.

[IsaacW]

This is a costume item, very loosely based on a 17th Century doublet. Those who wear traditional highland dress tend to avoid them, reenactors of the Jacobite period avoid them

Yes! fantasy and not really historic.

[Tobus]

I have one very similar to the one pictured in the OP (pocket flaps are slightly different), and have worn it precisely once - to a Renaissance festival. Even in that venue, I felt ridiculously costumish, and I won't likely ever wear it again. So my answer is no, it's really not appropriate for anything except fantasy costume. It's not even appropriate for period reenactment.

[Creag]

I've been digging around the interwebs trying to find out what kind of jacket and waistcoat were worn by Scots in the late 18th, early 19th centuries. What I've seen typically matches the style of the time, but cut for wearing with the kilt. A great many illustrations I've seen show what looks very like the kind of tweed jacket you can buy from most of the advertisers here on XMarks.

Paintings of the Scots at the battle of Culloden show a lot of tartan jackets.

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