The ideal time for the black argyll

[Dileasgubas]

Jock,

i agree with you. I tend to wear my Argyle a lot. However, I always wear it with a dress shirt, tie, and either a belt or waistcoat, and with highly polished shoes. Never informally and never with a patterned shirt, open collar or casual shoes. To me, the argyle is for formal occasions where a black tie might wind up being too much and where a tweed might be perceived as being too informal: a narrow band, perhaps but one in which there is definitely room for a formal order of dress, and which suits itself well to a dark coat, tie and shiny shoes. The argyle, therefore, works well for me.

My my rule of thumb is, when a black tie would be too much, perhaps an Argyle might work well. If not, go for tweed. After all, it is hard to knock a well dressed kilted gent dressed in a nice tweed, especially if the shoes are well polished and an attention paid to detail. The Argyle should therefore fit between tweeted and black tie.