Quote Originally Posted by auld argonian View Post
It's sort of ironic that those of us who choose to attend formal events in our Scottish finery should be so concerned about adhering to a strict code of dress...
Hmmm...Here's a slightly different take on it:

Most folks in the US generally know what a tuxedo is, even if they don't own one or wear one much. They also know that one doesn't wear a tuxedo to a baseball game, or to a morning wedding, or to a picnic at the fairgrounds. Additionally, unless one is attempting to make a "fashion statement", you don't wear a tuxedo jacket with a pair of blue jeans, or a t-shirt. Even folks who have only worn evening attire for their high school prom intuitively know these conventions because they have been exposed to evening wear in movies, etc. So, people accept that tuxedo = "fancy, formal, special occasions", not general wear.

Generally, those same folks in the US have not been exposed to Highland formal dress. They don't have the same intuitive sense of what is proper and what is not. I've seen Prince Charlie coatees (the equivalent of a tuxedo/ dinner jacket) worn with golf shirts, open neck polo shirts, even t-shirts. I've seen them worn at Highland Games in the middle of the day in 95+ degree weather.

My theory is this: When these well-meaning, but confused, folks do this, it's because they don't look at a Prince Charlie coatee and think, "That's a formal jacket to wear with my kilt for black tie events." Instead they look at a PC and think, "That's the sort of jacket that one is supposed to wear when one wears a kilt." So, when the local Highland games rolls around, this fellow dons his Prince Charlie coatee, because "well, this is what one wears with a kilt."

So, a set of "rules" that substitutes for the sort of knowledge one should "intuitively" know from being immersed in a particular culture is a good thing. That doesn't mean that once one understands these conventions that there isn't room for individual tastes and style.

Cordially,

David