Time for Kilt #2

[billmcc]

Buy an Argyl jacket. It is suitable for semi-formal wear with a straight tie and for formal wear with a waistcoat and bowtie. Odds are you will rarely, if ever, need a PC or doublet for piping gigs.

Non-pipers tend to favor the lighter-colored Ancient tartans for formal wear. However, people usually expect to see a piper wearing a colorful tartan. Have you considered the Isle of Skye tartan?

Get an 8-yard knife pleated kilt. Pleating to the line or the sett is up to you. It need not be pleated to the line. Some tartans don't look good when pleated to the line, while others look quite good.

[piperdbh]

What's the gig that you would need a PC or doublet for? For weddings, funerals, etc, the black Argyle will work just fine. And what's the necessity for an 8-yard, handsewn wool kilt if the one you have already is working for you?
What I'd suggest (which is what I did,) is to put your 'piping money in an envelope and when there's enough to get a top-of-the-line kilt, get it then. It'll make you a bit more eager to advertise your services and find extra gigs.

[joshuawray1]

Saving up for the kilt is a good plan. I will be receiving a reimbursement for my college tuition in a few weeks and had planned on using that for a kilt purchase.

The gig that I will be playing is a formal Clan dinner later this year. I'm sure that a black Argyll jacket would do just fine. I just want to be certain that I'm not under-dressed for the occasion.

[joshuawray1]

Welcome to X-Marks - from Music City, USA - Nashville, TN !!

Thanks for the welcome mrtackytn. I hope that you're staying dry.

[billmcc]

A piper certainly doesn't need an expensive hand sewn kilt. Many wear a machine sewn kilt that is much easier on the wallet.

I love the wool 8-yard machine sewn kilt I bought from Skye Highland Outfitters for only $300. Here is a review of the kilt: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...rd-kilt-55389/

Here is Skye Highland Outfitters' Standard Kilt page: http://www.skyehighlandoutfitters.co...Kilt_Page.html

[Iain Robb]

My mother is a MacFarlane, and I have to agree with you that the MacFarlane tartan would make a dashing formal kilt. And I have to also agree that the oranges of the Ancient MacFarlane don't really do the tartan justice.

I'd recommend that if you are going to spend the money to get an eight-yard traditional kilt made in MacFarlane, you get your hands on swatches from some of the mills that make it. There can be quite a variance in colors, and from what I see on my monitor, some are attractive and some are not. That doesn't mean much, except that there are enough differences in the tartan from different mills to seriously affect the way the kilt will look.

[OC Richard]

I've been doing piping gigs (weddings, funerals, etc) for 30 years and I fully agree with the people who are saying that a black Argyll jacket will be fine for your needs.

The modern standard pipe band "look" is the black Argyll jacket, black (not navy blue) Glengarry, plain hose, and ghillie brogues. 99% of the pipers who are doing gigs dress that way, so it's what clients are used to and expect.

About tartans for a "gig kilt", since many brides-to-be (and their mothers) are obsessive about wedding colours, many pipers have gone to neutral-coloured kilts, so as not to clash. Several pipers around here wear the Black Isle tartan, or tartans in grey tones, or even plain (non-tartan) black kilts. For many years I wore a Black Watch kilt for gigs for that very reason: it was dark enough for the colours not to "jump out" at a wedding.

On the other hand, the last few years I've been wearing Drummond of Perth (muted) for gigs and I've only had one bride say anything.

Pipers are tending to wear black Piper Socks/kilt hose also, or charcoal grey, and trending away from the stark white hose which have been standard since the late 1980's.

The great thing about a black Argyll jacket is its versatility. With a white wing-collar shirt and black bow tie you'll fit in with men in tuxes, with a normal shirt and long tie you'll fit in with men in suits. Also, the black jacket with its silver buttons and a black Glengarry with a silver badge looks enough like a uniform that you won't look out of place playing at a military, police, or fire event.

[joshuawray1]

I've been doing piping gigs (weddings, funerals, etc) for 30 years and I fully agree with the people who are saying that a black Argyll jacket will be fine for your needs.

The modern standard pipe band "look" is the black Argyll jacket, black (not navy blue) Glengarry, plain hose, and ghillie brogues. 99% of the pipers who are doing gigs dress that way, so it's what clients are used to and expect.

About tartans for a "gig kilt", since many brides-to-be (and their mothers) are obsessive about wedding colours, many pipers have gone to neutral-coloured kilts, so as not to clash. Several pipers around here wear the Black Isle tartan, or tartans in grey tones, or even plain (non-tartan) black kilts. For many years I wore a Black Watch kilt for gigs for that very reason: it was dark enough for the colours not to "jump out" at a wedding.

On the other hand, the last few years I've been wearing Drummond of Perth (muted) for gigs and I've only had one bride say anything.

Pipers are tending to wear black Piper Socks/kilt hose also, or charcoal grey, and trending away from the stark white hose which have been standard since the late 1980's.

The great thing about a black Argyll jacket is its versatility. With a white wing-collar shirt and black bow tie you'll fit in with men in tuxes, with a normal shirt and long tie you'll fit in with men in suits. Also, the black jacket with its silver buttons and a black Glengarry with a silver badge looks enough like a uniform that you won't look out of place playing at a military, police, or fire event.

Luckily, I already have:

Kilt #1 w/matching flashes
(3) White Uniform Shirts
Charcoal Hose
Piper Ghillie Brogues
Ghillators
Black Glengarry
Black Necktie
Day Sporran
Belt

So it looks like I basically only need a jacket and maybe a semi-dress/dress sporran. However, I plan on getting a new kilt in my Clan Tartan and maybe some other bits and pieces as well.

[OC Richard]

Yes it sounds like you're good to go once you get an Argyll jacket.

You could get black, charcoal grey, or navy blue. The advantage of black is that you'll fit in better when men are in tuxes and be fine at military/police/fire events. (The "blue" worn by US miltary, police, and fire is so dark as to appear black to all intents and purposes. An Argyll jacket in a blue that dark would be quite nice I think.)

Here's my usual "gig" outfit:



(Normally my knees are visible!)