Sporran design question

[Bluescelt]

Good luck with your project. I would say that it's best to make it as soon as you can so you will have time to make adjustments if needed. I made my wedding sporran back in 2013 and though it came out pretty good I would have changed a few things if I had the time.

[OC Richard]

As far as I know adding tassels to a sporran doesn't make it any more formal, nor taking them off make it any less formal.

I'm not a big fan of tassels myself, because they can fall off and get lost.

These guys are about as ornate as possible, and no tassels!

[Liam]

I might be making one for him too!

Good on you...I and one of my sons have skunk sporrans. They are an interesting conversation starter. Looking forward to pictures when you get further along.
Cheers...

[Cyd]

For what it's worth, your descriptions sound fine. A fur sporran with ermine tails as tassels with a full face or oval cantel sounds better than just formal, it sounds quite stunning. Ditto Liam's comment regarding not showing up the groom, other than that caveat as the groomsman you have no worries about being overdressed. Have a great time!!

BTW, don't use 150 year old pictures/portraits as a guide to formal highland dress unless you are making a Halloween costume, kitting out a stage production of Brigadoon, or the wedding reception is supposed to be fancy dress (check with the bride if in doubt). Tradition dictates that the person central to the event has the most elaborate attire. For a wedding, that is the groom. For a portrait, that is the subject. Don't mistake portrait attire for what is/was acceptable formal dress for the average attendee anymore than you would take a portrait of a king as generally appropriate attire for anyone other than a king.

[Cyd]

@Richard: These guys are also all pipers posing for a portrait. But 2 reasons why they are bad examples of acceptable formal highland dress. Sporrans of pipers are traditionally made of long horsehair. Those sporrans are quite probably literally made from the manes or tails of horses and would be quite inappropriate on anyone other than a piper. If a piper's sporran is embellished, it is usually done with additional horse hair of a contrasting colour, or long tails of a fur-bearing animal. Tassels, as presented on a common formal sporran, are simply not used on a piper's sporran.

Wearing a dirk to a wedding or for that matter virtually any formal occasion is also not appropriate. Why would you wear a weapon to a party?! The reason the sgian-dubh is worn exposed in the stocking is as a sign of peace and goodwill, showing you are not keeping the knife in it's traditional hiding places in the coat or pleats of the kilt. So donning additional weapons is generally inappropriate unless you are military in formal military attire.

Medal and fly plaid wearing is also inappropriate except in very particular circumstances. I will stop there, but those are just some of the problems with the piper pictures as examples of formal highland dress for all but a very few of us under very particular circumstances.

BTW, I don't mean this post to hijack the thread away from the discussion of formal sporrans. I just feel there is far too much of this historical picture posting and misinterpretation by well-meaning people that is leading to some quite clownish looking outfits. I am only looking to save embarrassment, through fashion faux pas, of those who wish to proudly show their heritage through dress.

[Tenmiles]

I think Richard's intent was to show how, even in cases where someone is going "all out" with every bell and whistle imaginable, even then, tassels are not necessarily a requirement for formality.
I never once imagined he was putting those pictures up as a suggestion to model myself after.

[Cyd]

I appreciate Richard had no intention to misinform. My comments were not necessarily directed to you personally or for that matter even to Richard, but to anyone reading this thread. I mentioned Richard simply to identify the post I was responding to. I wasn't trying to be offensive, just to correct a misinterpretation.

Again, these are pipers. They frequently didn't add embellishments on piper sporrans back then and even today it is a completely different form of embellishment from what you are talking about. A piper's uniform, including the pictured sporrans, is not even what a piper would wear to a formal occasion unless he was actually there to play the bagpipes. It is just a bad example all around, except perhaps of what not to wear. That was my point.

All said, you are quite right in noting that tassels are not what makes a formal sporran formal. I hope you will post pictures of the sporrans when you are finished.

[Liam]

Just a brief comment re. a dirk at a wedding. It's only functional purpose other than slitting open a haggis on Robbie Burns Day, is the cutting of the wedding cake. It need not be worn by anyone, but it may be the easiest way to remember it, perhaps by the father of the bride, (although this could be construed in a similar way as a shotgun without the cake cutting functionality.)
Cheers and back to skunk sporrans....

[cck]

With a nice looking skunk pelt you might not need tassels.

[Cyd]

You are right Liam, there is a purpose for someone having it, possibly the groom or the father of the bride at a wedding or the MC at a Burn's supper and possibly not worn by anyone. I was referring much more generally to guests. It's guests that generally run foul of tradition and etiquette, not members of the wedding party or organizers of a Burn's supper. The latter usually spent some time working things out, doing their research, and have a good grip on who should be doing what.

As for sporrans, I think it is hard to go wrong if you can just manage to get into the ball park and use some common sense. As a general rule, unless you are hired to play the pipes, don't wear a piper's sporran or anything that approximates a piper's sporran. The former is just wrong and the latter in bad taste. Highland dress is not a ticket to be outlandish, loud and vulgar. Having a two foot long sporran is a comment on your judgement, not your manhood. Traditional dress is best done with a quiet dignity and respect. The place for crazy sporrans, tartan drapery and such is at rugby and football matches and the after match festivities, and at pub nights. Not at someone's wedding or a formal do where respect and a degree of taste and elegance is demanded.