Great Kilt worn as formal attire

[tartanartist]

I wore my great kilt to a tartan ball this evening. I would have rather worn a different style jacket but the Prince Charlie was all I had. Nevertheless, I think it turned out looking all right. What do you all think?

[knotty]

Lookin good. Black Watch?

[Guinness>water]

Looks good to me! You did a really good job of getting the pleats to stay.

Since I've read about wearing a great kilt to formal events, it has appealed to me. How did you like wearing it? Was it as comfortable as your tank? Or, did it get in the way? Make you feel "undressed"?

[tartanartist]

It is the gunn modern tartan.

Thank you for the compliments. I used a two belt method to get the pleats to stay in nice. I felt as comfortable in it as I normaly would in a standard 5 or 8 yard kilt with a fly plaid. I would encourage anyone curious about trying the formal great kilt look to give it a try at least once.

[Chas]

I will apologise to start with.

Sorry

I do not like the look.

From the side, you look either pregnant or grossly overweight.

From the back, the jacket looks as if it doesn't fit. The tails have nowhere to hang so they bunch up. There is also something going on with your right sleeve that I don't understand; it looks twisted or the jacket is too big across the shoulders.

From the front, all that spare material gives you a "spare tyre" look.

Although it is seen as quite modern, I have never appreciated the black shirt and white tie look. The PC is a black tie garment and that means a bow tie and a white shirt. Personally, I have no objection to club/society/college ties with the PC, but they should be bow ties. A three button waistcoat requires a bow tie. A five button can be worn with either bow or long.

The juxtaposition of the historic kilt with the modern shirt and tie really jars as far as I am concerned.

I appreciate that this might sound brutal, but you did ask what I thought, so I will apologise again.

Sorry

Regards

Chas

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I will apologise to start with.

Sorry

I do not like the look.

From the side, you look either pregnant or grossly overweight.

From the back, the jacket looks as if it doesn't fit. The tails have nowhere to hang so they bunch up. There is also something going on with your right sleeve that I don't understand; it looks twisted or the jacket is too big across the shoulders.

From the front, all that spare material gives you a "spare tyre" look.

Although it is seen as quite modern, I have never appreciated the black shirt and white tie look. The PC is a black tie garment and that means a bow tie and a white shirt. Personally, I have no objection to club/society/college ties with the PC, but they should be bow ties. A three button waistcoat requires a bow tie. A five button can be worn with either bow or long.

The juxtaposition of the historic kilt with the modern shirt and tie really jars as far as I am concerned.

I appreciate that this might sound brutal, but you did ask what I thought, so I will apologise again.

Sorry

Regards

Chas

I'd agree... sorry, but in my opinion the ensemble just doesn't work.

[Woodsheal]

Looks great! Interestingly, in the "old days" when little kilts first appeared on the scene, they were considered as working or fatigue dress, and the full belted plaid ("great kilt") was the more formal of the two garments - being worn for full-dress occasions in the regiments, for example.

[Harold Cannon]

I think that with a doublet you would look great. I understand only having the prince charlie though. The only problem is the tails on the prince charlie coatee.

[thescot]

I like the great kilt/formal attire look, but I have to agree that the PC is the wrong jacket. A short waisted doublet is the best choice, I think. Either a regulation doublet with white tie or a Montrose style doublet works well, and I've used the Montrose with a jabot to good effect. (At least I thought so. ) Your outfit doesn't look bad at all, but it doesn't really look formal either.

Getting the hang in the back is a little tricky, and I have to disagree with Chaz on this: it doesn't make you look fat; it makes you look like you're wearing a great kilt. I have found that if I pull the opposite corners of the left over part toward the rear before twisting and pulling together over the left shoulder, it minimizes the excess material gathered around the waist which admittedly can look a bit odd by modern standards.

Also with a doublet, I prefer a pretty large waist plate/buckle to set off all that black. Sitting above your sporran with the silver cantle will make the outfit shine. With a Montrose, there are little hooks on the outside of the jacket in which the belt sits to keep it just at the bottom of the doublet so it looks very smart sitting over all that tartan.

You rarely see a great kilt worn these days except by reinactors and others of that ilk, but I like the look and have seen it worn to great effect when time and planning go into donning and wearing it. It does take practice.

[davidlpope]

Brian,

Thanks for the clarification on Matt wearing the Breacan Feile in the photo. I had erroneously thought this photo was taken after he sewed up the kilt.

Your line of reasoning seems to make sense in the abstract and I follow your logic, really, I do. Also, I find that my hands-down favorite kilts are 6yd knife-pleats because they are much more comfortable when wearing outside in warm weather all day, so I'm not averse to allowing good common sense to modify traditional practices when it makes sense.

That being said, the only kilt that I wear for evening events now is an 8yd knife-pleat, since it matches my Argyle hose. I have worn BP kilts for evening events in the past, but as my views have slowly evolved I've started paring down to only those kilts that I wear on a regular basis. I still have one remaining BP kilt, but haven't worn it for quite a while. While Kingussie and BP kilts may not be noticed as being different, I don't believe that they are "traditional" in the very narrow sense of the word. That doesn't mean that they aren't very nice kilts.

As far as the difference between them and the breacan feile, perhaps it's a matter of degree. While a Kingussie or BP may be out of the ordinary and not strictly "traditional", the breacan feile, for me, crosses the line well into historical "dress-up". Perhaps it's the fact that the Kingussie and the BP look like a "traditional" kilt from the front (the Kingussie looks a lot like a "traditional" kilt from the back, as well), whereas the breacan feile looks like a completely different beast, particularly with the excess fabric swagged around the upper torso. As I said, there are some folks who can pull of this look very well, but it's not one that I generally find attractive or traditional.

David