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

[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.