feedback requested

[OC Richard]

One thing I've noticed looking through vintage Highland Dress catalogues and vintage photos etc is that jacket lapel width and necktie width and shirt collar style have tended to be more stable with Highland Dress than with "Saxon" dress.

They tend to stay more or less in the classic middle ground and not go in for the extremes of wideness and narrowness that ordinary fashion cycles through.

With ties you see it with the classic British school and regimental ties that tend to be around the same width regardless of which decade they were made in.

So for example these gents might be from any period from 1930 to today, more or less

[FossilHunter]

One thing I've noticed looking through vintage Highland Dress catalogues and vintage photos etc is that jacket lapel width and necktie width and shirt collar style have tended to be more stable with Highland Dress than with "Saxon" dress.

They tend to stay more or less in the classic middle ground and not go in for the extremes of wideness and narrowness that ordinary fashion cycles through.

With ties you see it with the classic British school and regimental ties that tend to be around the same width regardless of which decade they were made in.

So for example these gents might be from any period from 1930 to today, more or less

I noticed that looking back on older threads and photos of Prince Charles. I don't know if that is quite the middle ground, by todays standards, it would probably be considered wide without being comical though. The jacket I have on in the photo I posted in my OP is not Scottish. Rather, it is a standard linen jacket I had made to kilt-cut length. There was an option for lapel width, for which I just went with the standard width(not what they had as skinny or wide). I think that I prefer the smaller lapel size with the crail-type jacket as it might just ending up looking like a 70s jacket otherwise. I can see it not looking quite right on an argyle though.

Of course, Prince Charles wears a modern cut jacket with wider lapels and he looks pretty good so who knows?

[FossilHunter]

Damn. The more I look at those wider lapels, the more I want to get a jacket with them.

[FossilHunter]

Here is another picture from today. I wore a slimmer tie (3", same as the lapels).



I have to agree that the whole thing does look better with the lapels and tie having similar proportions. That and I much prefer the way a pale colored shirt looks to white.

[kingandrew]

You gentlemen have some great looking jackets. I really like them all.

My solution to the tie issue is to wear a bow tie. It is always the right width and length. Now some people might think it's a little unorthodox. But hey, I'm wearing a kilt, so nobody is going to bother criticizing my tie. To be honest, I've never gotten anything but positive comments on either tie or kilt.

All that being said, I do agree that you want your straight neckties to be proportional (not necessarily identical, but proportional) with your lapels. And in both I favor the "middle ground" look, rather than the wide bibs of the 1970s or the finger-width lapels that are typical right now where I live in China. If you follow the styles of Prince Charles, you won't go wrong.

FossilHunter, your point about the blue shirt is well taken. Although I love (and wear) white shirts as much as any guy, it is also certainly true that white shirts don't do much for the complexion of pale people like us. Blue and pink shirts really go better with our skin tones. And I love the way a buttery yellow shirt harmonizes with the colors on my kilt.

Andrew