I read the first few posts in this thread, and then didn't check in again until now, and have just read page 4. From the content and tone, I can guess at what pages 2 and 3 will say. :-)

I just wanted to comment again, since my pic has been posted.

That is, indeed, me wearing a bona fide breacan feilidh to a formal evening function. (Actually, taken in my living room before leaving to said function). It was an experiment I decided to try out. Can the historic belted plaid be made to suit modern highland formal attire?

The event was a Burns Supper. The tone of the particular supper is pretty low key. Most men in kilts are wearing Prince Charlies or black Argyles. Most men not in kilts will be in suits, or a sportscoat. Nothing fancy. So I felt comfortable trying out something new.

I have to say first of all that I got a lot of compliments on this outfit. If anyone had anything negative to say, they kept it to themselves. That being said, that was the first and last time I wore that ensemble.

Why? Well, despite getting loads of compliments, I was not comfortable in it. I had worn a breacan feilidh many, many times previous, but all in the context of historical reenacting. To my mind, I just couldn't get past the notion that I was wearing a piece of historical dress, and I felt more like I was wearing a costume than clothing.

Secondly, the dang thing was just too much. I was spending the majority of the evening sitting in a chair around a table eating dinner, and all the folds and drapes of the cloth just kept getting in my way. (Same reason I never wear a fly plaid, I suppose).

Thirdly, while I think the natural folds of a breacan feilidh look just fine in the context of an historical event, for modern formal attire people generally want their kilts to look nice and neatly pressed, and I just was not going to go through all that trouble with my feilidh-mor.

At the end of the day, I simply decided that the neat, trim, tailored look of a modern kilt worked better for this sort of thing than an historical feilidh-mor. And so I took that same cloth and made it into a modern tailored knife pleated kilt for myself, which I got much more wear out of, before I eventually sold it to a piper friend of mine.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!