Dressing for the dreaded 'semi-formal' event... advice appreciated

[davidlpope]

BBSB argyll, white turnback cuffs, fold down collar shirt, gold tie with small purple stripes, kilt, dark red hose, black brogues, leather or sealskin sporran, belt and buckle.

[Macman]

My only difference from the above advice is that I wouldn't go with the dress or fur sporran, but would stick with leather, with cantle if you have one, but without if you don't.

[Liam]

BBSB argyll, white turnback cuffs, fold down collar shirt, gold tie with small purple stripes, kilt, dark red hose, black brogues, leather or sealskin sporran, belt and buckle.

or vest/ waist coat and no belt/ buckle

[Jock Scot]

First of all, welcome to the Rabble. Gosh, you really have studied the subject well. As a broad comment you must remember that we on this website do tend to obsess over the minute details of kilt wearing and whilst that is good fun, interesting to a degree, it does illustrate well that separating theory from practice is not always easy for some. You have had good advice above and the difficulties for newcomers are often in the form of overthinking the detail. Especially for those outwith the UK who do not understand the subtleties of British traditions in general and subtleties of Scottish kilt traditions in particular.

Take ties for example, If your "Gin and Tonics" Regimental tie is some dreadful combination of colours and matches absolutely nothing---as some do!---- are you not going to wear the tie with the kilt? Of course you will, it is what it is and one wears it come what may. Years of muck and bullets entitle one to wear it, so fashion and colour coding most certainly aren't an issue! It is this sort of thing that many outwith these shores wrestle with when making kilt attire decisions.

So alright, you have singled me out for a specific question about sporrans. Quick answer. A plain black leather sporran will be perfect for your event as its not formal. Events are either formal or they are not, this semi-formal thing is pure modern nonsense. Again we have theory and we have practice at work here, the theory says that one should wear a dress sporran to formal events and that is quite right, no argument there. The practice is rather different! Again for example, as far as I am concerned, find me a dress sporran that I like and I will happily wear it at the appropriate time, but since I recycled my dress sporrans to my children some thirty years ago, I have worn my plain black sporran to probably 99% of all the kilted events I have been to and yes, dress(formal) events too. No bolts of lightning, no untoward comments, no nothing, some may have their own thoughts on the matter though, but I doubt it. Those that know me and many do, know the reasons, those that don't know me are too polite to say anything------IF they have noticed and most don't know or even care! We need therefore, to be careful not to over-egg the cake with kilt attire and this is particularly easy to do with the sporran. However, this is real life not internet hair splitting.

So what am I saying? There are times and with experience( and with that comes confidence) one can adjust conventions a bit and overthinking can be sometimes a hinderance. Where many from outwith these shores tend to go off course is the lack of these two things and rigidly stick to the safe choices of the theory and end up looking like a tailors dummy or worse still, like a clown.

[McMurdo]

I am glad you were able to glean something from my photos, I wanted first off to touch on something Jock said above. That is with time comes confidence. Let me tell you the first time I left the house in my dad's kilt and sporran which like Jock he recycled, I was terrified. What would people say? The event went off well enough and I wore it again sporadically in the coming months. Once the bug bit as it were I started wearing the kilt daily and did so for 5 years. This gave me both the academic and practical knowledge to meet most any situation and to choose the right outfit for any event while still maintaining some modicum of personal style.

For your event I agree with most of what everyone is saying above, however I will add you do need to work with what you have for example my dad had one sporran his entire life, a brown day sporran that he wore to every event he ever wore the kilt at save my twin brothers wedding. Having said that, you have a black argyll with silver buttons and suitable shirt, as I always warn against mixing formalities I would personally wear a bow tie here keeping in mind what you were saying about the fraternity colours I did not say a black bow tie. As for the rest of it have fun with the colours you choose and enjoy the night, try not to think to hard on all of this as that tends to ruin the evening in my experience. Oh one last thought it matters not what tartan you wear as it is your tartan, so matching to it is not high on the list of priorities. Again have a great night and post photos if you can. Glad to have you on the forum.

[Fresh]

Thanks, all, for the warm welcome and for the rapid and thorough replies.

One thing I should clarify is that while I am new to this forum, I am not new to wearing the kilt. My wife and I were married 11 years ago, in the Royal Burgh of Peebles, Scotland, and I ordered my bespoke kilt for the occasion knowing that I would continue to wear it after. When we were married, I fell victim to the typical rental shop advice so often derided as an erosion of THCD style--think of cream hose and a PC jacket with dress sporran for an afternoon wedding. This has generally (and unfortunately) influenced the style in which I wore the kilt for several years. So while I am grateful for the comments encouraging confidence and comfort, a mark of the welcoming nature of the xmarks community, I can say that I am certainly comfortable wearing a kilt and have had no lack of confidence wearing it in a variety of situations for the past decade or so: to work, to highland games/celtic festivals, on St. Patrick's Day, Tartan Day, my wedding anniversary, and to various social gatherings from employer-hosted holiday dinners to casual Hogmanay parties, etc., and recently, to a funeral.

At this point, I am simply trying to improve the way in which I wear the kilt, with an eye to being more fashionably consistent with THCD. Or said another way, having learned much from xmarks, I no longer want to look like I came straight from a kilt hire shop (not that I always have, but I have definitely progressed away from cream hose as the standard for formal wear, for example). If Jock Scot happened to pass me on the street, I would consider it a win if he wondered for a second or two whether I am a neighbor he had never chanced to meet.

So yes, I'm overthinking it a bit, but it is not a result of being a newcomer so much as exploring a desire to change some long-held beliefs about kilt fashion stemming from poor advice. Based on the comments above, here are my takeaways:

1. Sporran: morning dress, black tie, and white tie events would warrant a dress sporran, but for everything else, a plain black/brown leather sporran is the suitable (and perhaps also sensible) choice. Along these lines, it would not be untoward to wear a plain leather sporran for a formal event, so long as one is comfortable/confident doing so. In either case, it is probably best to err on the side of too plain, with respect to one's sporran, than to wear something incongruously formal to an event that is not formal. Since I rarely have occasion for black tie events and have never attended a white tie event, it would probably be wise for me to invest in a higher quality black leather sporran and wear that for pretty much everything I do in my kilt. I have two daywear sporrans that are not particularly well-made, so this event is probably a good excuse for me to upgrade to a better quality daywear sporran that will serve me well in the future.

2. Tie: Stop worrying about the clashing of the kilt and the tie, and just wear fraternity colors, as I would normally do when wearing a suit.

3. Waistcoat: Several have suggested a belt in lieu of a waistcoat (I never wear both--one piece of actually helpful advice I did get from the hire shop). Seems that the thinking here is with the level of formality I described for this event, a BBSBA worn with a belt rather than a waistcoat would help to dress down the look a bit to a level more consistent with the level of formality to which others are dressing.

4. Hose/flashes: The advice is all over the map here, but the common thread is that pretty much anything will work. I'll probably go with something dark for hose and let the focus be above my knees.

Thanks again for the advice and the warm welcome!

[Jock Scot]

Hose and flashes are a minefield mainly caused by overthinking. My dear wife finds it highly amusing that grown men can spend hours of their time on this website discussing, agonising even, again and again and again and again the finer points of kilt hose and flashes. I must confess that I have yet to understand why either, but of course with new members joining all the time the subject is obviously a concern for them. The best brief answer concerning hose colour that I can give is; " any colour you like other than white, but if I had to pick two colours then my first choice would be claret(maroon) and second would be, bottle green."

Flashes are a subject very much overthought about by nearly everyone on this website.

Does one wear flashes or garter ties? For what it is worth. Me? Flashes.

Does one wear tartan flashes? Me? No.

How much does one have(flashes) showing? Me? About an inch.

What colour suits this or that colour hose? Me? I have one set of flashes, blue.

Must one always wear flashes/garter ties? Me? No.

If I don't wear flashes/ties surely my hose will fall down? Me? Suitable sized elastic bands( provided free almost daily by the postal service) are just the job.

In the end we all make our choices, but in all honesty, 10 seconds should be enough to make a lifetime choice.