Need advice for first time semi formal kilt wearing

[GG]

I don’t know your country/state very well, but the fact that people are going to the opera in jeans tells me, that you might be at a risk to overdress. Based upon “1 kilt 10 looks” I would say that #7-#8 would make it.

I think the kilt – I have one in the American Heritage tartan, too – is fine. And so are kilt hose, shoes and your Argyle. I would go for a standard dress shirt, myself, but I guess the button-down collar should not be that much out of place.

I do have more reservations to your "red" To my opinion bright red shouldn’t go well with the maroon color of your kilt. Accordingly your red should be maroon – to my taste. I would prefer a tie over a bow.

What would you be wearing, if you didn't have a kilt?

[gbmaz]

I don’t know your country/state very well, but the fact that people are going to the opera in jeans tells me, that you might be at a risk to overdress. Based upon “1 kilt 10 looks” I would say that #7-#8 would make it.

I think the kilt – I have one in the American Heritage tartan, too – is fine. And so are kilt hose, shoes and your Argyle. I would go for a standard dress shirt, myself, but I guess the button-down collar should not be that much out of place.

I do have more reservations to your "red" To my opinion bright red shouldn’t go well with the maroon color of your kilt. Accordingly your red should be maroon – to my taste. I would prefer a tie over a bow.

What would you be wearing, if you didn't have a kilt?

If I did not have a kilt I would probably be wearing a rental tuxedo with a red bow tie and red cummerbund or waist coat.

I will have to put everything together and see what the red looks like with the kilts. Perhaps a black bow tie or one in a maroon that matches the color in the tartan would be a better choice.

The finance director (aka the Wife) just informed me that she would likely be spending > $200 on some jewelry for the affair and gave the thumbs up for a dress sporran. I will likely go with http://www.usakilts.com/black-bovine...ran-14286.html

[GG]

I will likely go with http://www.usakilts.com/black-bovine...ran-14286.html

It definitely looks like a nice dress sporran. And a good choice if your non-kilt alternative was a tux, I think.

[Downunder Kilt]

Another thread that maybe of use to the op.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...xamples-85511/



Shows examples of through the spectrum of day wear, formal day wear and formal evening wear.

Cheers

[DyerStraits]

The 1 Kilt, 10 Looks guide is truly definitive...

I attend the opera regularly here in Chicago--where, believe it or not, patrons wearing jeans is not uncommon either--and unless it's Opening Night (as with Verdi's McBeth a few years ago) I usually opt for very dressy but not-quite-formal, daywear, as I did here:

20151003_212507.jpg

[OC Richard]

About button-down collars, I could be wrong but they strike me as an American thang.

With country tweed the British tend to wear Tattersall or Country Check style shirts (you can Google them) which can be very difficult to find at a US shopping mall- the American equivalents nearly always have button-down collars.

Country Check shirt- about as informal as you can get. Note the straight collar (not the point collar usually seen on American shirts)



So the British, I think I'm safe in saying, wouldn't wear a button-down collar shirt with the kilt at any level of formality.

An ordinary white collared shirt would be perfect. Ideally (for a British look) it would have a square or spread collar (rather than the American point collar) and not have buttons on the collar.

About sporrans, as I've often pointed out Highland Dress underwent quite a transformation in the years immediately following 1900, so by the 1920s Outdoor/Day dress used brown leather sporrans while Evening Dress used seal-skin sporrans with silver cantles. Even today these distinctions seem to be usually followed, by people accustomed to wearing Highland Dress in the traditional manner.

The Evening/Day dichotomy (in 1936)

Evening: (all are seal-skin)



Day: (all are brown) (some have fur; these are no more formal than the ones without fur)



Very nice vintage sporrans, both Day and Evening, are available on Ebay, often very cheaply. I see gorgeous vintage sporrans going for less that $50 all the time.

This is how I dressed a few years ago for a Burns Supper. I was the only kilted man not wearing a black Prince Charlie, I think! The charcoal-grey tweed jacket is hard to beat.

The wearing of the goat-hair sporran with silver cantle with such an outfit is certainly not correct in the post-1900 period. I should be wearing a Day sporran, leather.



More "correct" Day Dress, with Tattersall shirt and brown leather sporran



True Evening Dress is probably too dressy for your occasion.

[Panache]

gbmaz,

From what you have described of the event I myself would shoot for wearing the argyll jacket with a regular (not tux and not buttoned down) dress shirt and a nice tie. With a nice dress (or semi dress) sporran you are going to look great. Keep in mind that wearing the kilt itself is going to wow the rest of the attendees.

I wore a similar outfit for New Years Eve



Have a great time at your event

Cheers

Jamie

[OC Richard]

That's perfect Jamie.

I also notice that your kilt is of a nice traditional height, not the hip-hugging blue jeans height one sees so often nowadays. Well done!

[JohntheBiker]

A couple of versions of "semi-formal" using an argyll jacket. I find the argyll handy when a PC would be too much. Given that I don't own a "semi-formal" sporran, my default is my seal skin sporran. Lots of options: