perceptions of formal attire

[davedove]

So, if most of you say to leave the Jacobite shirt at home, what functions would you wear them too?

You could get away with one in a casual setting. For instance, I have seen people wearing similar shirts with jeans. The problem is that they have a "period" look to them, so they don't look like modern wear.

[Sir Robert]

It is in fact possable to do formalwear in brown, blue whatever and it WOULD be formal. The problem is that the symbology is that black tie is well, black. For example an Army "Dress Blue" is a tux equivilant even though it isn't black, the black bow tie is your clue as to it's formality.