Spencer Tuxedo from Tailcoat

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Go with the wool, for all the reasons stated above. Rather than alter a tails coat you might want to consider going to Marlow White (www.marlowwhite.com) and purchasing a Navy or USCG CPO mess jacket. In the long run, for a total of $219.00 + shipping, it may prove to be the better buy.

Finally, if it were me, I'd skip the epauletts, but replace the buttons.

[triolamj]

I had already price-shopped them looking for a mess jacket for a friend and their prices were too high. The US Navy / PHS mess jacket is down to a decent price but I'm too portly for that look to work and the dark navy blue won't go with my formal kilt. For the same money, I could get another J. Higgins Argyll in a 54 Long and solve one of my problems. I see that they have spruce green Ike jackets which would have been great for my buddy except for the 10 jacket minimum on the order. Oh, well.