Too Traditional?

[EagleJCS]

Ryan, as a life-long Catholic (currently lapsed), it's been my experience (at least locally) that Saturday Masses are much more casual than Sunday morning - especially the High Masses (Easter, Christmas, etc.). However, the general trend is that Sundays are also becoming more & more casual.

That said, I think your outfit will be just fine. I'd suggest just a small bit of color (maybe a red pocket square?) as an accent.

Welcome to the Church!

Regarding the thread as a whole, I agree that trying too hard to 'fit in' makes one's appearance in a kilt look more like a costume than 'normal' apparel. Trying to 'out-Scot the Scots', as it were.

[rondo]

4/6/12 USA Tartan Day attire:
Kilt = Spirit of Scotland
Shirt = purple wing collar
Tie = grey/purple/red The Doors poster tie
Cap = black Balmoral with red torrie
Shoes = black/red[ish] Ren Faire boots no hose or flashes
Belt = brown with 2 brass roller buckles
Sporran = black/brown Wyvern hung from kilt belt

Pics of most of this kit are in my album. Wearing at work in bar/restaurant.
Rondo

[Ryan Ross]

Ryan

I personally think you nailed the look, clearly a collaborative mix of traditional in the vast majority of pieces and contemporary in the use of the black shirt to give it your own flavor. Not a monochrome look but well balanced small subset of colors repeated across the whole outfit.

I personally really love the stingray skin sporran---it however visually causes me to think of something that is not polite forum discussion, something I will never get out of my head unfortunately, and thus have my own personal "bit" that I would personally change for unique reasons.

I think you will look grand for your confirmation. Remember, only a sip of the wine---don't grab the chalice and down the whole thing, and ask for seconds---it is only ceremonial after all. Good luck.

jeff

Jeff,

I greatly appreciate the kind words and well-wishes/advice for tomorrow. That excelent advice will stick with me, and no doubt ensure that I make a proper showing.

As to the stingray, I do know what you mean! Haha

Seriously though, if you like the stingray but not the spot, some large pelts allow for the entire sporran facing to be taken from a spot-free location. No white spot, no problem.

Sho Kosugi, one of favourite 'Ninjas' of the 1980's! He had great Ninja movies, with Ninja III: The Domination being one of my all-time favs - way off-topic I know, but I couldn't help myself!


Cheers,

Hah! I lived and died for cheesy Sho Kosugi movies, whe I was a kid! Still get a kick out of them, every once in a while, and Ninja III: The Domination was always one of my favorites, as well... loved the scene when the bad guy's surrounded on all sides, fires up a smoke bomb, and ends up burying himself in the sand in two seconds flat. GOLD.

Of course, Dale Seago and myself are Bujinkan guys, so we may appreciate the '80s ninja craze from a slightly different angle than most.

[ForresterModern]

Jeff,

I greatly appreciate the kind words and well-wishes/advice for tomorrow. That excelent advice will stick with me, and no doubt ensure that I make a proper showing.

As to the stingray, I do know what you mean! Haha

Seriously though, if you like the stingray but not the spot, some large pelts allow for the entire sporran facing to be taken from a spot-free location. No white spot, no problem.

Ryan

You are quite welcome.

RE: stingray, I have had my thoughts, and have actually found numerous dyed versions that were, shall we say, less suggestive. I may fall that direction one day and bite that bullet if I find the right color scheme, but for now have a couple things brewing with Atificer that will probably take up my sporran funds for at least the rest of this year, unless I sell some of the current collection.

Enjoy the day.

jeff (aka "the heathen", according to Wife, she who shall be in church with the Boy come Easter Sunday morning while I go out for a nice long solo bike ride)

[creagdhubh]

Hah! I lived and died for cheesy Sho Kosugi movies, whe I was a kid! Still get a kick out of them, every once in a while, and Ninja III: The Domination was always one of my favorites, as well... loved the scene when the bad guy's surrounded on all sides, fires up a smoke bomb, and ends up burying himself in the sand in two seconds flat. GOLD.

Of course, Dale Seago and myself are Bujinkan guys, so we may appreciate the '80s ninja craze from a slightly different angle than most.

Ryan,

You and I are like 'twins' mate! Hahaha!

I know eactly what you are talking about! The brilliant action, coupled with the superb acting skills and excellent ensemble of 'one hit wonders' for the musical score - put it all together and you've got a perfect Ninja movie!

I agree with your 'slightly different angle' comment, as I definitely fell into that category during my younger years. I trained as a student (mukyu-kyu levels only) of Ninjutsu for about 10 years under the organised, Bujinkan, with our Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi as its head. I trained under Shidoshi Kenneth Harding in the St. Louis area and reached the kyu grades and wore a green belt. Unfortunately, I became rather disinterested in the training (not the fault of my Shidoshi or the dojo) as I became older, because I was progressively becoming more and more involved with skiing, mountaineering and rock-climbing, but I am very proud of what I had learned and achieved throughout my 10-year tenure as a student of Bujinkan Budō Taijutsu and much of my learning as stayed with me.

Now I understand the black shirt my Shinobi-iri friend...

[Ryan Ross]

I know eactly what you are talking about, Ryan! The brilliant action, coupled with the superb acting skills and excellent ensemble of 'one hit wonders' for the musical score - put it all together and you've got a perfect Ninja movie!

I agree with your 'slightly different angle' comment, as I definitely fell into that category during my younger years. I trained as a student (mukyu-kyu levels only) of Ninjutsu for about 10 years under the organised, Bujinkan, with our Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi as its head. I trained under Shidoshi Kenneth Harding in the St. Louis area and reached the kyu grades and wore a green belt. Unfortunately, I became rather disinterested in the training as I became older (I was progressively becoming more and more involved with mountaineering and rock-climbing), but I am proud what I had achieved throughout my 10-year tenure as a student of Bujinkan Budō Taijutsu.

Now I understand the black shirt my Shinobi-iri friend...

Hah! Wonders never cease.

We're everywhere, buyu... even if we're sometimes hard to see.

EDIT: I thought about doing a yubiken with my right hand in that photo, in honor of Seago Sensei, but I got too distracted when I saw that my pocket watch had stopped!

Ryan, as a life-long Catholic (currently lapsed), it's been my experience (at least locally) that Saturday Masses are much more casual than Sunday morning - especially the High Masses (Easter, Christmas, etc.). However, the general trend is that Sundays are also becoming more & more casual.

That said, I think your outfit will be just fine. I'd suggest just a small bit of color (maybe a red pocket square?) as an accent.

Welcome to the Church!

Regarding the thread as a whole, I agree that trying too hard to 'fit in' makes one's appearance in a kilt look more like a costume than 'normal' apparel. Trying to 'out-Scot the Scots', as it were.

Thanks much, my friend! And I'll see what I can scrounge up in the way of pocket squares... I must admit that I don't have many.

@ Jeff- "Heathen"? Bwahahaha... That sounds like something my mom would say!

[Dale Seago]

Very well said, Jock!

And with that in mind, and because it seems somewhat relevant to the thread, and because I'm getting Confirmed tomorrow (in this outfit or something close)...

Would you folks provide some musings on said outfit?

I was trying to go for a fairly understated impression, as is my custom.

Does it look ok, first off?

How "traditional" does it strike you? "Contemporary"?

Hah- I know my hair's messy and my shoes need a shine, but I should be able to take care of all that by tomorrow.

Ryan, great combination of tradition and personal contemporary style -- looks very sharp!!

For future reference, if I can find it when I get home I think I have a short-sleeve tattersall shirt with a black background that would fit the bill. The lines are very subdued, not "loud" at all.

And speaking of tattersall, this just arrived today from Orvis - the pale green one:

http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=3L57

I'll have to look in sunlight to be sure, but the lines actually seem to be purple. Should go well with my black & silver "tentacles" tie and rayskin sporran for the R'lyeh Sett kilt.

[Father Bill]

Ziiiiiing!!!

Well said, Father. And on that note, before I forget, do you see the stingray skin sporran I'm wearing? I've always thought that stingray would look SMASHING on a priest.

The Roman collar, the white spot on the hide... magic.

100% my friend!

[Father Bill]

Oh I know FB. Its a historical thing for me, I am just old enough to remember WW2 and I certainly remember those that survived it. Black(and brown) shirts have bad, very bad, connotations that go with that grim time and I can't help it and even to this day, they just turn my mind to very negative thoughts.

100% my friend. In that context, 100%.

[CMcG]

To turn away from the (fascinating) subject of ninjas and reiterate the original question, with some photographic help: could any of the following images be too traditional for a non-Scot (by blood, by nationality, or both)? Too traditional for a younger person? Too traditional for a newbie kilt wearer?

These images are of clan chiefs, nobility and VIPs, who I figure have a lot of traditional experience. Leaving aside the feathers (of course), would these be good images for a young, new to kilts, non-Scot to follow as examples for how to dress for a Highland games in mild weather?