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

[CMcG]

...

My questions:

1. What sporran should I wear? ...

2. I don't want to be matchy-matchy with my hose, tie, etc., .... Would a purple tie (perhaps with or without gold/yellow stripes) work? ...

3. Related to 2 above, how would you suggest picking hose and flashes/garter ties to try to work some purple (and/or purple and gold) into this outfit? ... or just skipping the purple/gold below the knee altogether and doing something (more traditional? or perhaps more commonly seen in the highlands?) like bottle green, navy, or charcoal hose with a red/claret garter tie or flashes.

Welcome, Fresh! You've already had some good advice, which I will augment with my 2 cents and a photo that you might find helpful.

Seeing as this evening event is not truly formal (i.e., black or white tie), I'd go with a black leather sporran. If it were actually formal, however, a metal cantle sporran (with or without fur) would be appropriate. Jock Scot can wear his plain day sporran for (almost) everything, which is his prerogative, but it's not the most conventional choice for formal evening wear

As you've already read, a school/club/regiment tie just works with a tartan kilt—regardless of colours. My tie from the Chinese University of Hong Kong is in the school colours of gold and purple, which happen to be the same as your fraternity. Don't worry about matching because significance of association in tie and tartan trump fashion choices.

With a club tie covering the fraternity colours, I'd go with something else below the knees. From my wardrobe, it would be navy or charcoal hose at an event like the one you describe, but bottle green would be just as good. Red flashes make a nice accent. I prefer regular brogues to ghillies, but regardless, make sure to put a good polish on them!

And now a pic of me wearing my kilt at an evening event that could fall under the nebulous "semi-formal" dress code, with clan tartan kilt (MacQuarrie), gold and purple school tie, bbsba, leather sporran, navy hose, and red flashes. The shirt is a light blue, but a white shirt would be fine too.