I guess I have been defining bling far too narrowly. I tend to think of it purely in jewelry terms which might extend into anything metallic. I would not consider the fly plaid bling but I would think of the broach worn on it to be. That being said highland dress is at a distinct disadvantage in controlling such bling. Compare a PC or Montrose to a Tuxedo. The Tuxedo rarely has metal buttons and is of a fairly similar cut to a standard suit jacket. Much of what we see with highland dress is already so far above our normal formal standard that I think it is very easy to fall into the trap of looking like a caricature.

While pictures of historical catalogs or paintings are helpful, they are also damaging in that they may lead one to thinking they need to wear everything pictured. Some of these pictures would be far too peacock like for any modern event one would be going too. Think of the white hose debate. The so called rule of white being formal leads many to buy two sets one for days and the other white. That is one too many.

In my previous post I forgot to write of shoes. This has been a bit of a problem for me as I used to have a set of ghillies which I never really liked. Those laces never stayed where they should and ended up getting retied several times which is pretty inconvenient. I have thought of what else to buy, and to tell the truth I am warming up to the idea of buckle brogues however the large silver buckles bring us back around to thoughts of bling and potentially over doing it. So more research is in order.