Argyle/Argyll tweed Jacket and Waistcoat Advice

[Downunder Kilt]

For the most versatile jacket and waistcoat, I would go with the tweed option.
If you plan to wear it to your own wedding, that's fine, as you and your betrothed are the ones that set the level of formality for the occasion. As for colours of the tweed that is entirely in your court. You know what suits you.

[Chas]

Hello BlueRaja and welcome,

I don't know that I can help with advice except for this:

And by the way, is there a reason why some are called Argyle and not Argyll? Surely its just Argyll?

Argyll is the Duke and Argyle is the jacket. Some things just are.

Regards

Chas

[xman]

And by the way, is there a reason why some are called Argyle and not Argyll? Surely its just Argyll?

For the same reason that sometimes it's McDonald and not MacDonald. Until fairly recently standard spelling, especially concerning names was simply not the way it was done. Shakespeare never signed his name the same way twice. Even his contemporary Christopher Marlow preferred Marley and never actually signed his name Marlow.

[JSFMACLJR]

Before you settle on a tweed jacket and waistcoat, it would be good to note that according to the late Scotty Thompson, who wrote the "bible" on Highland wear (So You're Going to Wear the Kilt), tweed jackets are traditionally best suited for informal day wear. They correspond to a sport coat level of formality. Your PC on the other hand, is black-tie evening wear. For a daytime wedding, the most appropriate choice would be a black Argyll (or Argyle - same thing) with silver buttons. That same jacket will do for most evening events as well, up to the point where, as Thompson wrote, "the Saxons are in white tie and tails".

.

Thompson's book is mostly crap. Most Highland Scots wear tweed kilt jackets to weddings. THey are not "best suited for informal day wear." Rather, a tweed kilt jacket is the Highland equivalent of a suit.

[chrisupyonder]

Check out Hector Russell in Edinburgh. I got a lovat blue tweed argyll jacket and waistcoat when I was visiting last year. They had a half price sale on and got both for £90. Very good quality. The sale was in shop only and was not on their web site.

They have a bottle green argyll 100% pure new wool barathea Jacket with nickel plated buttons for £79 on their web site. If you like green.

http://www.hector-russell.com/Produc...ls.aspx?Id=416

Chris.

[TheBlueRaja]

Thanks for all the help folks.

Does anyone have any ideas on quality, as in my first post im not sure why prices differ so wildly from shop to shop.

Is there anything or any shop in particular i should be wary off? I have to say that, so far, heritage of scotland seem to be offering the best price/deal as linked in my first post, but thats purely based on a browse of the web and not with my own eyes.

Thanks

[cable scot]

Welcome to xmarks
I have a HOS argyll in AR001 it fits me well and the quality is good enough for me. I also went with the antique buttons It looks cool to me.




here's me in it. I like it good enough but if i was only going to have one jacket/vest I would go with black,the charcoal just doesn't look formal enough
for my taste for black tie use.

Regards
Andy

[TheBlueRaja]

Looking sharp my friend.

I think that settles it, i really like the look and your kilt is similar to mine as well, (Lamont) so i know its going to look good, the red works well too, might steal that idea too.: lol:

I don't suppose you could provide a larger image though, i'd like to see what the antique buttons look like.

Thanks for taking the time to post though, makes it much easier to decide.

[Jock Scot]

Thompson's book is mostly crap. Most Highland Scots wear tweed kilt jackets to weddings. THey are not "best suited for informal day wear." Rather, a tweed kilt jacket is the Highland equivalent of a suit.

Agreed. Just so you know, the black barathea, silver buttoned,with a normal tie(not a bow), argyll is normally worn for formal day weddings and should be conidered as morning suit equivalent. So ask yourself this, particularly as we, I think, are talking UK here:-

How many formal weddings do you go to?

A pretty smart do in London last year-------Prince William's wedding. The invitations stated that uniforms, morning dress,or, lounge suits were to be worn. This kilted gentleman is perfectly attired for the occasion.

[ForresterModern]

Check out Hector Russell in Edinburgh. I got a lovat blue tweed argyll jacket and waistcoat when I was visiting last year. They had a half price sale on and got both for £90. Very good quality. The sale was in shop only and was not on their web site.

They have a bottle green argyll 100% pure new wool barathea Jacket with nickel plated buttons for £79 on their web site. If you like green.

http://www.hector-russell.com/Produc...ls.aspx?Id=416

Chris.

I have been to several HR shops between Edinburgh and Glasgow in the two trips to Scotland a couple years ago and they had lots of tweed jackets, many on clearence prices, with or without vests, at more than acceptable prices. The only reason I don't own any is that they had none in my size in shop that day. Waaah.

I have also had good luck with HOS, now owning 4 tweed jacket/waistcoat sets customed to my size (52L or XL) and all fit nicely, appear well made, and wear well. They have two items in particular, a contemporary and a traditional style kilt jacket described as coming "in tweeds of many colors", which gives you a wide variety of tweeds to choose from, although as stated above the pictures are not always quite precise in color depiction. All mine have been manufactured by the same subcontractor, MacGee's, somewhere else in the UK but not specifically listed as Scotland. But then again nobody really sees the labels anyway. And best of all is that right now they are having a special Tartan Day sale, 15% off everything in the whole store, which brings the cost down to 163gbp (plus VAT for you in the EU) or about $260US---not bad for a nice quality tweed jacket and vest custom to your size. And if you choose free shipping and specifically request Royal Mails besides being free, those of us in the US have a great chance of having it delivered without customs duty assessed (4 for 4 without any duty assessed this way).

I will have to throw in the caveat that, yes, they are a Gold Brothers company and many feel they are destroying much of scottish tradition with their marketing techniques, as well as some question their ethics about other issues. But I have bought 3 kilts, 4 jacket sets, and at least four sections of tartan from them at incomparable prices, and other than having one delay in manufacture and delivery of the first jacket set (they lost their source manufacturer and had to resource the item) have really had no problem with HOS things I have ordered. No question they are a tat shop and flood the tourist market with a lot of (imagine a good scottish brogue here) "cccccrrrraaaaPPPP", if you are selective in what you purchase from them you can pull some very good deals. YMMV.