The Importance of knowing the Rules of Kilted Fashion

[Rex_Tremende]

We die-hard fashion plates still refer to the knot as the S-C-G knot. Isn't that so, Rex?

Quite.

In fact, it's how I learned to tie it: "Up and around it makes the S, circle around, the C, pull it through, you've got a G, then tighten it to the V." That last letter refers to the shape of the knot when it's finished.

Regards,
Rex.

[Panache]

I am loathe to appear uncouth, but my father taught me to tie a Windsor knot at a very young age and in my mind it is the only choice for tying a knot in a tie.

I will not knock other knots but I can't imagine wearing a tie with anything less than a full Windsor. It just looks right to me.

Cheers

Jamie

[Livingston]

I am loathe to appear uncouth, but my father taught me to tie a Windsor knot at a very young age and in my mind it is the only choice for tying a knot in a tie.

I will not knock other knots but I can't imagine wearing a tie with anything less than a full Windsor. It just looks right to me.

Cheers

Jamie

I agree, Jamie. Of couse, it's the only one I know

[ThistleDown]

With all due respect, Rathdown, I must beg to differ. The un-latched bottom button was the habit of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). He was a full-bodied person by nature and habit and a fop by choice, but he did not fashion the fashion. That honour belongs to those in his large circle who wished to follow his need for flexible attire with their emulation, regardless of circumference. Today, the un-done bottom button is the convention, if not the rule.

Edward's son was George V, but he was never known as "German Geordie" -- that sobrique (?) belongs to his "George" ancestor of more than a hundred years prior. George V sired Edward VIII, the one who made his grandfather's preferred knot popular as a direct result of his post-abdication celebrity in America as Duke of Windsor. I've never heard the "duke of necktie" story before; maybe the Duchess created it some years later for an interview in their NY home?

Regardless of history, what a lovely knot the Duke of Windsor's valet bequeathed to us a half-century ago and how grand it is that an earlier Wales saw a future need for expandable waistcoats

[Larry124]

…[Rules) are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of [Rules] becomes destructive… it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish [them], and to institute new [Rules], laying [their] foundation on such principles and organizing [their] powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their…Happiness.

Where have I heard something like that before?

[svc40bt]

Just looked at the calendar. The next lunar equinox is March 20th. Therefore, the third Thursday following that is: April 9th.

I am very much looking forward to Rocky posting a picture of himself wearing the Hawaiian shirt, paisley tie, Loud MacLeod kilt with rainbow striped socks and Birkenstocks with a fanny pack.

The mullet wig isn't necessary though... Don't worry about that.

JD

Pictures, no, Rocky's shop is only a 3 hour drive for me. Where will you be going to dinner in this outfit Rocky?

[DWFII]

IMHO...

The Full Windsor looks great with certain ties--ties that are silk or thin enough to make a neat, relatively small knot. Some bulky knit ties for instance, not so much.

And the Windsor also looks good with certain shirt or collar styles but when paired with a collar that does not spread as much as modern collars, it not only distorts the shirt but gets lost behind the collar.

True, not many shirts (or even detachable collars) are made in this older style ...la Belle Epoque...but there are still some around and still some of us who prefer that style of collar.

The point, though, is that sometimes the Windsor is just not appropriate and since the average man will see styles shift several times in his lifetime, it is always handy to know a few other knots--the Half Windsor, if nothing else.

[DWFII]

…[Rules) are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of [Rules] becomes destructive… it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish [them], and to institute new [Rules], laying [their] foundation on such principles and organizing [their] powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their…Happiness.

Where have I heard something like that before?

But rules are not laws and, with all due respect, simply substituting "rules" wherever you want is a form of sophistry that only serves to mislead and confuse the issue.

Thing is...that whether they be rules or laws or even just a simple set of commonly recognized conventions...once you change them, nothing remains the same. For instance (and my apologies to anyone who is Catholic), if you defy the "rules" of the Catholic Church it begs the question, beyond a certain point, of whether you can call yourself a Catholic, at all. You follow?

No one forces anyone to wear a kilt...or to wear a kilt "just so." But we do have, and accept, a somewhat common vision of what Highland Attire is supposed to look like. And when those conventions are violated...beyond a certain point..."Highland Attire" becomes something else. And maybe the kilt becomes something else, too?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

With all due respect, Rathdown, I must beg to differ. The un-latched bottom button was the habit of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). He was a full-bodied person by nature and habit and a fop by choice, but he did not fashion the fashion. That honour belongs to those in his large circle who wished to follow his need for flexible attire with their emulation, regardless of circumference. Today, the un-done bottom button is the convention, if not the rule.

Edward's son was George V, but he was never known as "German Geordie" -- that sobrique (?) belongs to his "George" ancestor of more than a hundred years prior. George V sired Edward VIII, the one who made his grandfather's preferred knot popular as a direct result of his post-abdication celebrity in America as Duke of Windsor. I've never heard the "duke of necktie" story before; maybe the Duchess created it some years later for an interview in their NY home?

Regardless of history, what a lovely knot the Duke of Windsor's valet bequeathed to us a half-century ago and how grand it is that an earlier Wales saw a future need for expandable waistcoats

All of which you say is correct, except you have overlooked the bit where I was responding in a humorous, rather than historical vein. Oh. And I didn't mention waistcoats, because I think they are far too serious a subject to make sport of. Or, because I think waistcoats are far too serious a subject of which to make sport (for those of you out there who decry poor grammar).

[McClef]

Probably because George V changed the family name to Windsor (from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) on the outbreak of WWI. Not that it fooled anyone. They were still as German as sauerkraut.

The name was not changed until 17 July 1917 which was hardly the "outbreak" of WW1. As to the "German as sauerkraut" bit that is hardly accurate as George V was half Danish and Queen Mary was both born and raised in the United Kingdom. It is not as if they were acting as the agents of the Kaiser.

There was much misleading propaganda at the time so that people were doing irrational things like kicking dachshunds in the street. It was therefore considered important that the British nature of the royal family should be re-emphasised.

And if "nobody was fooled" then why did the House of Windsor stay on the throne when so many other royal houses did not?