Proper way to wear a kilt with a tie?

[sfb]

Future earnings/advancement probably trumps. Sigh. Maybe you could test the waters on a special occasion sometime, like St. Andrew's Day.

The fun part is that those good ol' boys, almost to a man, probably have Scots or Scots-Irish heritage. If you could take the ribbing, and give as good as you got, you'd probably have a lot of fun with them.

That strikes me as a rather good idea, given your understandable concerns. Folk are probably more likely to accept it if it's a special occasion thing? And if you do St Andrew's Day, Burns night, your birthday, the work Christmas party (or the equivalent) then if people view it as your "especially smart" workwear, it'd maybe be less likely that anyone would be snickering?

Of course if that works out, then you can expand it to other notable Scottish dates like the opening of the Parliament at Holyrood; Billy Connolly's birthday and the Battle of Bannockburn, and you'll end up wearing your kilt to work at least once a month.

Seriously though - unless and until you feel confident and comfortable about doing it, I'd err on the side of the workwear status quo.

[Tobus]

The other day I was showing kilt pictures to someone on my computer when one of the field superintendents walked into my office. Surprisingly, he thought it was cool. Apparently he visited Seattle a couple of years ago and claimed that "everybody" there was wearing a kilt. He even tried on a utilikilt at their store there but didn't buy one because his daughter laughed at him in it. But still, he thought they were cool. So that's a promising sign.

[Tobus]

Funny that you mentioned the Christmas party. That is coming up soon, and I have considered it. Of course, I'd have to invest in some semi-formal wear. But it might be the perfect opportunity. That's the only occasion I see most of our field superintendents wearing anything except their hard hats and such. They usually will dress up. The office staff usually wears suits and ties, and our wives wear nice party dresses. Showing up in a kilt, decked out to the nines, could be a pleasant surprise. It might be a way to introduce them to the kilt in an impressive manner. Hmmmmm! *rubs hands together*

[JSFMACLJR]

Funny that you mentioned the Christmas party. That is coming up soon, and I have considered it. Of course, I'd have to invest in some semi-formal wear. But it might be the perfect opportunity. That's the only occasion I see most of our field superintendents wearing anything except their hard hats and such. They usually will dress up. The office staff usually wears suits and ties, and our wives wear nice party dresses. Showing up in a kilt, decked out to the nines, could be a pleasant surprise. It might be a way to introduce them to the kilt in an impressive manner. Hmmmmm! *rubs hands together*

I wouldn't recommend dressing "to the nines." It sounds like the party is not black tie, so a nice tweed kilt jacket would be perfect for an office Xmas party. As many on this Forum will tell you, tweed jackets with the kilt are worn almost anywhere from the field to a dinner party, to a wedding.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I wouldn't recommend dressing "to the nines." It sounds like the party is not black tie, so a nice tweed kilt jacket would be perfect for an office Xmas party. As many on this Forum will tell you, tweed jackets with the kilt are worn almost anywhere from the field to a dinner party, to a wedding.

If you are going to be building your wardrobe around traditional Highland attire you will find that when dressing casually a nice sweater will always fill the bill. If you need to be a bit more dressed up then a tweed jacket, shirt, and tie will cover just about every imaginable occasion. For those times when formal attire is called for a black Argyll jacket with silver buttons will more than do the biz.

When we lived in Dublin my wife and I often found ourselves invited for a weekend in Scotland. Here's what I'd pack if we were staying with friends in the country:

Wax jacket*
Light weight sweater*
Heavy weight sweater*
Tweed kilt jacket & waistcoat
Black Argyll jacket & five button waistcoat plus a three button waistcoat
Leather sporran (with horn handle sgin dubh and garters inside)
Full mask muskrat sporran (with silver mounted sgian dubh and garters inside)
1 black, self tie, bow tie
2 neckties (in case one is damaged during the weekend)
2 pair of evening hose (one pair in tartan)
3 pair of day wear hose
1 formal shirt w/studs & cuff links
1 white shirt
3 heavy cotton "tattersal" shirts
2 pair of shoes (one for outdoors, one for indoors)

Now this may seem like a lot of clothes, but it isn't. We'd arrive on Friday, sometime after luncheon, and be shown to our room to "freshen up", and change out of out traveling clothes. We'd put in an appearance for tea, wearing a jacket and tie, and meet the other guests staying the weekend (I'm now down one shirt, 1pr hose). We might then wander about the gardens, or otherwise amuse ourselves until drinks just before dinner. This usually meant a quick brush up and change into dark hose, white shirt & tie, five button waitscoat and Argyll jacket (I'm down one more shirt and another pair of hose).

Saturday morning, unless there was someone very grand staying as well, breakfast could usually be polished off in kilt, hose, shirt and light weight sweater. Jacket and tie were worn to breakfast if we were sharing the shreddies with the great and the good. If we were mucking about outdoors then we dressed for the weather (wet, or cold, or wet and cold). At one o'clock we had luncheon, and if dining indoors it was jackets and ties all around for the gents. If it was lunch down at the pub we were saved the necessity of changing until 4PM when it was back into jackets and ties for tea. We were then left to our own devices until 7PM when we'd all assemble in black tie for drinks before dinner (that's two more shirts and two more pair of hose for the day).

Sunday was jacket & tie for church, with a late breakfast after. By 3PM all good guests were back in their traveling togs, slinging their bags into the boot of their car, and headed down the drive and out the gate (having worn all of the clothes packed for the weekend).

Now if you exclude the first three items on the list (*) that is pretty much everything you will ever need in the way of Highland attire, unless you are a regular bon vivant (like Panache) and are seen at all the swell parties as well. All of this, incidentally, fitted neatly into a smallish suitcase.

[Rex_Tremende]

Rathdown, I'm pretty sure that's how I pack for even a lesser weekend away from home in the humblest of settings. You just never know what the occasion will call for when the agenda is TBD.

I can hang quite a bit of my closet on that bar across the back seat of my car, and my trunk holds, well, let's say A LOT of shoes.

Regards,
Rex.

[sfb]

"Now this may seem like a lot of clothes, but it isn't."



Well, yes it is. I'm not saying you're wrong with your description of how your weekend used to pan out, but it bears no relation to what folk - even if they have a bit of kilt experience behind them - would need for a weekend in Scotland.

Unless I've got this horribly wrong, and you've got a group invite to Balmoral, of course.

[NewGuise]

"Now this may seem like a lot of clothes, but it isn't."



Well, yes it is.

That's more than I've packed for a month or two a continent away! A couple of folks here have pretty much convinced me to bring a kilt on my next long trip to France (and Germany, too, this year), and now I'm scared as to what this might mean re luggage...

[Jock Scot]

Ooops, duel post.

[Jock Scot]

"Now this may seem like a lot of clothes, but it isn't."



Well, yes it is. I'm not saying you're wrong with your description of how your weekend used to pan out, but it bears no relation to what folk - even if they have a bit of kilt experience behind them - would need for a weekend in Scotland.

Unless I've got this horribly wrong, and you've got a group invite to Balmoral, of course.

I am afraid to say that you would be horribly wrong, quite often.