Howdy,
I've been reading this forum for years, but finally had a question for which I couldn't find an answer, so I joined up.
I've been wearing a great kilt regularly for nearly ten years now (by regularly, I mean on a weekly basis.) I know some on this forum are wary of the "costumey" aspect of the belted plaid, but I wear mine for specific reasons (It was a gift from an older relative. At 6' & 350lbs, it fits and looks better than anything I've ever tried on.), and have found that with practice, good folding, and secure belts and brooches, it is no more inconvenient than my tuxedos (which I also regularly wear). Plus, as a professional opera singer, people expect me to dress rather dramatically, and I find that the bp has greatly enhanced my public persona. But that's not really my question, so let's leave the discussions on bp and fp's to the many other places they're covered on the forum.
My question comes because I was in a junk shop the other day and came across a fantastic plaid brooch for just $7. A little research shows that it's a nearly century-old NCO's brooch from the Highland Light Infantry and worth around $200-300.
While I obstinately wear a bp in defiance of sanity and taste, I've always accessorized it very conservatively. Would it be appropriate to use this brooch? Keep in mind that my outfit is obviously not a military uniform and tha the regiment was absorbed into another and hasn't existed since 1959 (so even if I were the very last recruit they ever had, I'd be in my early seventies. I look old for my age of 30, but not that old.)
I guess what I'm saying is, would people see it as a beautiful brooch worn to show my respect for a regiment that fought at Waterloo and both World Wars, or as a pretentious and inappropriate appropriation of symbols not pertaining to myself?
I hope that my concern in this regard shows that I do take these matters very seriously.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.