Quote Originally Posted by CMcG View Post
Let's hope no-one delates you to those who do know better, because they'd be aghast at the way you're doing things that "just aren't done" In all seriousness, that is quite a unique look. It has a generally traditional feel, but there's some older, historic touches, and your own modern individuality too.

I like how the leather cantle and long neck tie combination dress down what could otherwise be a very formal outfit. The mess jacket is still a black tie level item, though, and the argyle hose add to that impression. What type of event (i.e. what dress code) would you wear that outfit for?
I took that photo over a year ago for the specific purpose of getting critique here on the forum, and believe me when I say there was plenty. It was actually a very good learning experience for levels of dress (of which I was largely ignorant), and you are correct that this falls into none of them! The mess jacket was my grandfather's, and I was looking for advice on how to cobble together an outfit around it.

The event was my step-daughter's evening wedding, where I was the only one in a kilt (and indeed most folks there had never seen a kilt before). I ended up wearing that outfit, but with a black bow tie and a 'formal' shirt with French cuffs but no tuxedo pleats on the front. Ideally, for that level of dress, a cantle sporran would be worn. But at the time I did not own any sporrans with cantles. And even now, the only cantle I own is a brass MoD cantle which would have a hard time rising to the level of black tie evening wear. But I have thought about building a horse hair sporran for the MoD cantle, just to see how it turns out. I think it would look smashing with a silver-plated MoD cantle like Harold's.

At any rate, disregarding the odd pairing of accessories in my experimental outfit above, my point was to show that even a horse hair sporran with a leather flap or cantle can look OK when dressed up, so long as you're not around people who nit-pick the details. The wearing of a long hair sporran itself tends to make a statement.