Quote Originally Posted by Nathan View Post
I have been told by some that "semi-dress" sporrans are the appropriate choice and were designed specifically to wear with the semi-formal black barrathea argyll jacket which also occupies the middle ground between the prince charlie coatee and a tweed day jacket. What are your thoughts on that?
That's my understanding of why they were invented too. Seems like a reasonable compromise between day sporrans and evening sporrans, allowing one to dress somewhere in between. But I rather tend to think that this is more a function of our modern tendency to dress more casually than in generations past.

If I was wearing that type of jacket to this type of event, would the full dress fur sporran with silver cantle be a little too much or just right?
Personally, I think if you were wearing a black Argyll with silver buttons to an evening event, any dress sporran with a silver cantle would be just fine with it.

I find everyone's views on sporran choice interesting and informative so while I'm on the subject: Given the waning popularity of the fur industry, if I was going to be among a particularly activist crowd, what do you think the most appropriate non-fur alternative would be for full dress?
Not sure how to answer that one without knowing the nature of their "activism". Would they be opposed to a sporran with horse hair or goat hair too? I can't think of any traditional sporran choices that don't involve animal products.

Finally, how do you feel about a black day sporran as opposed to brown for day dress and what type of buckle would you recommend to dress down my belt a little? I've been told something with a brushed finish would be fine, but I'm hesitant about any kind of "plate" style buckle on a black belt.

N
Black day sporrans are very traditional, and actually it seems that most Scots prefer black over brown. As I recall when I searched through photos from Highland Games in Scotland, it seemed about 25% of the gentlemen were wearing brown sporrans and shoes, while 75% were wearing black.

As for dressing down a kilt buckle, first you might want to consider not wearing a belt at all. It's not actually required, and a lot of folks don't wear one. But if you do feel that you want to wear a kilt belt and want to avoid a shiny waistplate, there are options for less flashy buckles that still fit a traditional kilt belt (without going to a bar-and-tongue style buckle). This is what I normally wear if I'm going to wear a kilt belt with daywear.