Picking the right jacket

[MacLowlife]

I know there are places in Florida where it gets cool, but I think you need to find the lightest weight jacket available. And I think you ought to buy it in some shade of blue or grey, depending on your taste and what looks good with your tartan. I do not care for black jackets, other than tuxedo jackets, but others like black blazers and black suits. And that is why you get so many endorsements of the black Argyll. I think a navy blazer is a better alternative and I think the kilt version is a navy argyll. Steve's charcoal grey is nice, too, but please be sure to get it in the lightest available worsted fabric- or some kind of silk and wool blend. Please consider a jacket in colors like these worn by the Duke of Rothesay, aka Prince Charles... http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-photos-49608/ . You will notice he is not afraid to wear subtly patterned jackets, but he seldom wears black ones in the daytime. If I were you, I'd go to a high-end thrift shop, find an orphaned 3 button suit coat, and take it to a good tailor to have it converted. Or order one from Steve. But get it in very lightweight fabric.

[Calgacus]

Oh, and by the way---If anyone is good with photoshop we have been told we need to put a big fiery explosion behind us in the first photo.



Here you go, "Licensed To Kilt"

[Calgacus]

And a wallpaper version.

[HippieLee]

And a wallpaper version.

Friggin' Awesome!

[Liam]

Steve... your outfits with with the different waist coats show how versatile a grey jacket can be. I particularly like the deep red one.

Cheers...Bill

[Highlander31]

Steve, nice look.

What tartan is that?

[The Wizard of BC]

The Tartan is HBC, The Hudson's Bay Company Tartan. Registered with the Scottish Tartans Authority as ITI #1612. Designed by Gordon Kirkbright of GK Textiles.

I think the story behind this Tartan may be interesting to some of our members.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=30049

I have gone through four bolts of this fabric. I have about 3/4 of a bolt in the shop right now. Gordon tells me that have the only bolts of this Tartan in private ownership in the world.

[CMcG]

... Something that could be worn for nice day wear as well as semi formal evening wear. Mostly I'm looking for something I can wear to a wedding, funeral, christenings, dinners, and maybe once or twice a year for dinners on a cruise. As of now I have 2 suits that serve these purposes interchangeably. Living in Florida ...

The kilt equivalent of a suit is an Argyll jacket. The comments about a dress Argyll (black barathea with shiny metal buttons) would be more useful if cortezcapt needed to also do formal wear, where a black tie rig is required. He has suggested, however, that the events he will attend would be suit appropriate, rather than tuxedo oriented. Downunder Kilt also made a good point about a dress Argyll traditionally being for morning dress. Nonetheless, in practice it often gets used as a catch-all for very dressy (dark suit equivalent) with a long tie, up to formal (tuxedo equivalent) with a black bow tie, which can be made more effective by the use of swappable buttons.

cortezcapt would be better served by a different Argyll. Given that he lives in Florida, the traditional tweed version wouldn't serve him well in the heat. I think MacLowlife hit the nail on the head with a suggestion for a lightweight, kilt cut jacket in a darker colour. You could get one with swappable buttons and alternate between horn for less dressy and shiny metal for more formal. Perhaps something like the ones that Steve suggested or else the ones made by New House Highland (Matt Newsome):


http://www.newhousehighland.com/jackets.php

[tulloch]

I do like my Lovat Green Argyle jacket for a versitile garment. By the way, that is now my desktop image. Great stuff!

[Nathan]

Warning: longwinded post regarding jacket formality...

I recently put out a call in the "wanted" section for a dark coloured jacket that could fill a void in my wardrobe. As I mentioned in that post, I had 4 jackets: A lovat green tweed jacket with Braemar cuffs, A black Prince Charlie coatee and waistcoat, a black velvet single-breasted Montrose-like doublet, and a bottle green barathea wool Balmoral doublet.

Given the versatility of the tweed, I didn't really "need" another jacket, but I don't live in the Highlands and although in Highland attire, the tweed is a business suit equivalent, I found there were occasions when the country/sporting/professorial look that tweed evokes to the uninitiated eye left me feeling slightly underdressed. I wanted something I could wear to a funeral or someone else's wedding so I put out the call on on xmarks and a local Torontonian member came through for me. What he sold me was the ubiquitous black argyll with shiny metal buttons as well as a charcoal argyll in a subtle herringbone suiting wool. Jock often points out that the black barathea argyll could do double duty with swappable buttons and I think CmcG made that point earlier in this thread, but a) I don't really like to wear black before 6pm and b) Since most of the buttons were sewn on, switchable buttons would have required some surgery to the lining.

While the tailoring quality of the black Argyll was far superior to the charcoal, after some alterations, I'm quite happy with the look of the charcoal for as long as it lasts and thought it would be a good suggestion to many.

The charcoal Argyll came with faux horn buttons. I'm not a fan of faux horn button although I quite like authentic horn buttons. To my eye though, the horn button gives the jacket a day wear look and pulls it toward the tweed end of the spectrum. Not my goal since I have that covered.

In the end, I changed the faux horn to black leather buttons and am quite happy with the result. I think the black barathea argyll with silver buttons is quite a fancy look. Its perfect to wear to your own daytime wedding as it is a morning suit equivalent. Although you can get away with it in a number of situations, I don't think it's perfect for anything besides a formal daytime event or a very fancy evening event that isn't black tie. Sure you can wear a three button waistcoat and bowtie and it will work but in my opinion, a coatee or doublet fits that level of dress better.

In contrast, this slightly less formal look is perfect for the Remembrance Day concert I played last night and would be ideal for a funeral, someone else's wedding or anywhere that a dark suit would de rigeur among those attired in the Saxon tradition. I could also comfortably wear it for day wear when it's too warm for the tweed since the leather buttons aren't too over the top for that.

So now...the photos





Certainly, the suit jacket like options that both Steve and Matt offer would be perfect for this purpose also.