Prince Charlie Coatee

[Bugbear]

It is still perfectly acceptable today. To pull it off you need a fairly full jabot and a 5 or 6 button waistcoat. At my brother's wedding (30 years ago!) my father, brother, and I all wore jabots-- my brother wore an Argyll, my father wore a spencer, and I wore a coatee.

If I can get my scanner to work I'll post a photo to the wedding attire forum.

First, hope you can get your scanner to work.

Second, I love it!

[Kerr the Walker]

That would depend entirely on the nature of the function!!!

Mark O - Ohio

I am trying to picture a blue and orange paisley PC worn with a kilt and my normally vivid imagination is failing me. Perhaps a subconscious defense mechanism.....

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

As for the issue of the blue version of the PC. All I will say is in UK society the finest dinner suits were always made in midnight blue. The black was more common but the best dressed gentlemen wore midnight dinner suits. I know of a few people today who still use midnight blue for their dinner suits.

It was HRH Edward, Prince of Wales, who popularized the wearing of "midnight blue" dinner jackets in the 1920s. He did this because the combination of incandescent lights (then in use) and the dyes of the fabrics caused black to look "dull" and ocassionally take on a "greenish" tinge under some lighting conditions. This green-ness was due to the harshness of the dry cleaning processes then in use, and the area of the jacket most effected were the silk lapels.

It has been suggested that the idea of using "midnight blue" came to Wales when he noticed that his Royal Navy uniform looked black under artificial light.

In the last 85-odd years great advances have been made in both lighting technology and dying fabric, and today's quality jackets do not change colour under incandescent or florescent lights.

The problem with ordering a dark blue coatee from an off-the peg retailer is that you will end up with something that, under any lighting conditions, will look "blue", not black.

[Bugbear]

The only way I would want to stand out at a black tie event is by dressing more traditionally than most; i.e., lacey jabot with black Argyle, or perhaps a dark colored Sheriffmuir doublet. That is why I focus on the traditionalists posts so closely in these threads; I have other flaws to cover and I don't need to draw negative attention to myself.

Not saying that I am exactly a traditionalist, but I'm not exactly a "stick out in the crowd," non-conformist either...

[bchunter]

I started with a black PC, then later acquired a green Braemar jacket. I wear a black and silver bow tie with the PC, and a nice green silk bow tie with the Braemar. I've found it easier to dress down the Braemar than the PC, and never wear the PC to daytime events. Now I long for a Montrose.