Did I buy the ugliest kilt on the planet?

[tokareva]

Terry, its not so much about matching that I'm concerned about...actually I would prefer not to be wearing all olive and light blue. I just think its a bit too much green and blue and nothing seems to actually look good with it, unlike my Black Watch which anything seems to look OK with.

[Terry Searl]

Terry, its not so much about matching that I'm concerned about...actually I would prefer not to be wearing all olive and light blue. I just think its a bit too much green and blue and nothing seems to actually look good with it, unlike my Black Watch which anything seems to look OK with.

Tokareva, to me tartans can be peculiar things. Every one's eyes picks out something different in the colour scheme. Some people can hardly differentiate between one tartan and the next ....they just look like a tartan of a dominate colour. Other people can see the difference in just one thread colour
When I first got my Canadian Maple Leaf tartan I thought it was more bright red than the burgundy I thought I ordered and was just a tiny bit disappointed ..... after wearing it a few times I now don't think it is as bright a red as I first thought at all, and now I think if it was even slightly more burgundy it would be too dark.
It seems that whatever colour of hose or waist coat or jacket I wear changes the shades in the tartan. Even the colour of sporran and shoes seem to have an effect.
Experiment with it and you may come to think, that even just wearing the kilt with pride and confidence seems to change the tartan as well
I hope you will learn to like it or maybe even love it as much as other kilt wearers will and do

cheers!

[Rick Landre]

I like it. I think it's great. I love the indviduality of it all.

[Father Bill]

Hi.

I've said this elsewhere, but the idea of an ugly tartan is somehow foreign to me. Twill is a marvellous cloth, and to me tartan is beautiful almost without fail. (Okay, there are a few corporate setts that are a wee bit forced, but that's not what we're on about here.)

Your tartan is your nametag. I went into a church for the Kirkin' o' the Tartan once and greeted the woman holding the door with "Good morning, Mrs. MacLeod." She looked shocked and puzzled that I knew her name since she didn't know me, and looked immediately to verify that she was not wearing a nametag... but the "Loud MacLeod" is unmistakeable anywhere.

Why do we tease about the "Loud MacLeod"? Because it is a beautiful thing to have something that brilliantly bold, and we love to recognize what it is.

Whether weathered, (you may chuckle if you wish) modern, ancient, hunting or standard, your tartan is recognizeable and says who you are. I joined the Clan Sinclair Association of Canada after walking down the pavilion of the clans and having been "spotted" by the association as I passed on the other side. I was wearing Sinclair Hunting modern. The chap there told me that he had said to the others in the tent that I'd be there on my way back, and he was right. The important thing here is that he spotted my kilt and knew immediately who I was.

So the thing with your tartan is this: Does it matter what colour or colours your nametag has so long as the name is spelled correctly? Matching the other things you wear may be important, but your tartan is... your tartan. Your tartan. Match your hose to your shirt or tie if you like, or perhaps just your garters. Make sure that your jacket compliments your shoes if you care about such things, but your tartan stands on its own -proudly. -beautifully. -distinctly. -perfectly.

It's always your tartan and if you're not proud of it, you need a psychologist, not a wardrobe change.

Wear it proudly. Wear it defiantly. Wear it often... and love it! It's yours!

[OC Richard]

It's a beautiful tartan, the Muted.

Personally the two colours I would avoid are the tartan's two main ground-colours, those specific shades of green and blue.

Of the various hose you have in that photo my favourite is the taupe (what Cheviot calls "Bison") for the very reason that the tartan lacks that colour.

Personally I would wear a brown tweed jacket and/or waistcoat and Bison hose.

Or you can avoid colour altogether and go with charcoal grey tweed- it would look great with that tartan. I've yet to see a tartan charcoal grey doesn't look good with.

But I wouldn't mix the two- brown hose with grey jacket etc. Brown and grey take the tartan in two different directions, for my eye.

About avoiding the kilts' main ground-colours, there's an optical effect that happens when you juxtapose a jacket hose etc of one of a kilt's main ground-colours upon the kilt: that colour is diminished in the kilt, drained out of the kilt, making the kilt look more muted and dull.

The opposite effect, intensifying one of the kilt's colours, happens when you juxtapose something of a colour brighter/more intense and shifted one way or the other around the colour-wheel.

[MacKenzie]

A fine looking tartan.

Good choice in the pleating to the red stripe.

Personally the two colours I would avoid are the tartan's two main ground-colours, those specific shades of green and blue.

Of the various hose you have in that photo my favourite is the taupe (what Cheviot calls "Bison") for the very reason that the tartan lacks that colour.

About avoiding the kilts' main ground-colours, there's an optical effect that happens when you juxtapose a jacket hose etc of one of a kilt's main ground-colours upon the kilt: that colour is diminished in the kilt, drained out of the kilt, making the kilt look more muted and dull.

The opposite effect, intensifying one of the kilt's colours, happens when you juxtapose something of a colour brighter/more intense and shifted one way or the other around the colour-wheel.

I subscribe to this also. Let the kilt stand on it's own. Don't try to blend it with the rest of your attire.

The only thing I would also suggest is to try either claret or tartan red hose to pick up the red stripe in the kilt, as that's not one of the kilt's main colors. I'm not sure from the photo, but it looks like tartan red would be the better choice.

[Mike S]

I love your muted Gunn tartan! And this is coming from someone with Sutherland and Sinclair ancestry. ;)

[Taskr]

If the pics are a selection of accessories and you outfitted, I'm not sure what your concern is. Looks smashing!

[Terry Searl]

Hi.

I've said this elsewhere, but the idea of an ugly tartan is somehow foreign to me. Twill is a marvellous cloth, and to me tartan is beautiful almost without fail. (Okay, there are a few corporate setts that are a wee bit forced, but that's not what we're on about here.)

Your tartan is your nametag. I went into a church for the Kirkin' o' the Tartan once and greeted the woman holding the door with "Good morning, Mrs. MacLeod." She looked shocked and puzzled that I knew her name since she didn't know me, and looked immediately to verify that she was not wearing a nametag... but the "Loud MacLeod" is unmistakeable anywhere.

Why do we tease about the "Loud MacLeod"? Because it is a beautiful thing to have something that brilliantly bold, and we love to recognize what it is.

Whether weathered, (you may chuckle if you wish) modern, ancient, hunting or standard, your tartan is recognizeable and says who you are. I joined the Clan Sinclair Association of Canada after walking down the pavilion of the clans and having been "spotted" by the association as I passed on the other side. I was wearing Sinclair Hunting modern. The chap there told me that he had said to the others in the tent that I'd be there on my way back, and he was right. The important thing here is that he spotted my kilt and knew immediately who I was.

So the thing with your tartan is this: Does it matter what colour or colours your nametag has so long as the name is spelled correctly? Matching the other things you wear may be important, but your tartan is... your tartan. Your tartan. Match your hose to your shirt or tie if you like, or perhaps just your garters. Make sure that your jacket compliments your shoes if you care about such things, but your tartan stands on its own -proudly. -beautifully. -distinctly. -perfectly.

It's always your tartan and if you're not proud of it, you need a psychologist, not a wardrobe change.

Wear it proudly. Wear it defiantly. Wear it often... and love it! It's yours!

You've got me worried now Father Bill, by your words above it might mean I have to get ANOTHER KILT in another tartan, if just by chance I want to go someplace incognito........ my next choice was a gorgeous purple and gold based county Wexford tartan......but it isn't woven any longer, for some reason County Wexford has opted for a tartan with more of a green base


wexford-me090.gif

[Pleater]

I am just putting a burgundy warp on my loom and I thought - burgundy would go with that.
The tartan colours are a bit cold, and the burgundy is a rich warm colour which would add a bit of a zing to the outfit without getting overly intrusive.

There is a leather colour called ox-blood which might also prove useful - but with neutral hose.