How formal is formal?

[Jewddha]

Stephen Lewis is speaking in Victoria next Friday. I have a ticket. I am VERY excited. Now for the kilt part... the event is apparently black-tie formal. I don't own anything that gussied up, but my friend sugegsted I go kilted! I only own a brown Freedom Kilt (poly-cotton, so it does at least look crisp), and a two-tone (grey and red) Pittsburgh Kilt. I'm afraid that niether would be formal enough. My accessories to date are black dress shoes, some sort of dress shirt and tie can be arranged, and I beleive I could get hose in time (Steve, you mentioned hose?). So I was wondering if you think either kilt could be considered formal enough (not that I'm worried about Mr. Lewis' impression), and if so, would there be any neccessary accessories, and what colour hose/shirt might be appropriate.

Thank you so much in advance.

-Michael

P.S. I will be at a table of fellow high-school students I beleive, so again, I'm not drastically worried about the formality.

[The Wizard of BC]

Give me a call, we can work something out.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Stephen Lewis is speaking in Victoria next Friday. I have a ticket. I am VERY excited. Now for the kilt part... the event is apparently black-tie formal. I don't own anything that gussied up, but my friend sugegsted I go kilted! I only own a brown Freedom Kilt (poly-cotton, so it does at least look crisp), and a two-tone (grey and red) Pittsburgh Kilt. I'm afraid that niether would be formal enough. My accessories to date are black dress shoes, some sort of dress shirt and tie can be arranged, and I ..

Jewddha, a brown kilt with a kilt belt, nice sporran, tie, dress shirt, and shoes would be somewhat formal, and for a high school function might be acceptable, unless the others at the table are going to be in tie, tails, and formal white dress shirt. If the others at the table are going to be wearing jackets of any kind, then you really need to match that, even if they are in formal jackets and you are in a dark tweed or black argyll jacket. There is no way you could pull off a formal look without a jacket.

Just my 2 cents!

[Archangel]

I just checked out the notice for the talk. There's no mention there of black tie, evening dress stuff so I'd suggest just looking good. If you don't have a jacket, try going to Value Village, or some place like that and get the white shirt with epaulets. They usually look very formal, especially with a narrow black tie. Kilts are one of the few exceptions to the black/brown rule. Black shoes are formal when shiny, you should be okay. Just look like you tried.

[Jewddha]

Archangel, I had a similar thoguht about the jacket. And I've spoken with the organiser (the only reason I'm going is that Rotary is sponsoring some high school students to go) and he did say that it's formal wear.

[Archangel]

Archangel, I had a similar thoguht about the jacket. And I've spoken with the organiser (the only reason I'm going is that Rotary is sponsoring some high school students to go) and he did say that it's formal wear.

Maybe talk to the organizer again. Sometimes when people say formal they mean dress up, don't wear jeans and a RATM t-shirt. If it was full formal, the notice would probably state so otherwise there would be a lot of upset at the door. I think Stephen Lewis is pretty close to a saint so go, I'm sure he'd rather talk to you than have you miss it over clothes. And he deserves the respect shown by dressing up.....(and, anyway, he probably owns RATM Battle for Mexico City.)

[Jewddha]

Excatly. I'm sure he won't have any problems as long as one makes an effort. It's the hobnobbers I'm less fond of having to deal with (again, my rant on ageism comes into play).

[sav]

Not to sound ignorant, but are we talking about the Stephen Lewis who is currently serving as United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa? Just wondering.

[Jewddha]

Sav, yes indeed. (hence my incredible excitement).

[Planopiper]

If it's black-tie formal, then it's pretty clear. You need to respect the efforts made by everyone else to dress appropriately. A brown poly-cotton kilt is about as formal as brown poly-cotton pants. Not very. A Pittsburg kilt, to my eye, looks a lot like a utilikilt, so it’s about as formal as shorts that you’d wear to do yard work. A jacket of some sort is a requirement for any event where you’re not actually working. An Argyll would be good for a black tie event. Do you have a dress or semi-dress sporran? If you can’t pull the parts together to dress appropriately, then you are probably better off skipping the kilt idea and wearing something else. If you wear a kilt, you’re going to be drawing attention to yourself. You don’t want to look totally out of place or like a clown.