fly plaid

[boats]

Is it alright to wear a fly plaid with a prince Charlie jacket and vest? How easy is to make a fly plaid?
boats

[Jock Scot]

If you want to wear one, then of course you can, however, one might want to consider if one needs to? There is a thread that has been posted in the last few days here that shows fly plaids being made by professionals. Perhaps some kind soul will point you in the right direction?

[The Wizard of BC]

A fly plaid is simply a 40" X 40" square fringed all around to 1" to 2".

[boats]

Thanks Jock Scot.
boats

[The Q]

And to the first part of the question, these days the Prince Charlie is probably the jacket most likely to be worn with the fly plaid.

[Father Bill]

...but if you look around the forum you'll find that they're not overly recommended unless you're the Groom or Honouree or something like that. They're a pain, and somewhat over the top... but I admit, I do like them.

[Nathan]

I agree with Father Bill and Jock. They are somewhat cumbersome and rarely worn by anyone aside from the groom in his wedding and even then, they are by no means a requirement. The awkward thing about wearing a fly plaid with a Prince Charlie is that because the Prince Charlie is an open jacket, the weight of the plaid tends to make one side of the coatee ride up. They are far more stable when worn with a closed doublet like a Balmoral, Kenmore or Montrose but if one already has a PC, there's no reason to buy one of those simply for the chance to wear a fly plaid. They get in the way whilst dancing and I've seen one or two gents inadvertently knock things over with them.

Plaids are grand looking and evocative of the old full plaid so I understand the appeal certainly. Because of the reasons stated above, however, I've opted to spend my money on other pieces of kit.

Each to his own though, to answer your question directly - If you're going to wear it, the fly plaid is best worn with evening wear so the PC is a perfectly acceptable choice. I've seen it worn with a tweed argyll and I'm not at all a fan of that approach. I've also seen it worn on one of those pseudo jacobite, piratesque, "ghillie" shirts and that just looked off to me.