Formal dress accesories

[5thgroup]

With full formal kit, Prince Charlie, bow tie, white shirt, waistcoat, dress sporran:
Miniature medals with, or without fly plaid?

[ASinclair]

With full formal kit, Prince Charlie, bow tie, white shirt, waistcoat, dress sporran:
Miniature medals with, or without fly plaid?

I would not wear the fly plaid. BTW, welcome to Xmarks!

[McMurdo]

I would not bother with the fly plaid.

[Steve Ashton]

I do not even own a fly plaid. And probably never will.



When I had my kilt shop I did a lot of wedding rentals. Many guys asked about a fly plaid because that is the look they would see on the web.
So I would tell them this. The core of the classic, and refined look is simplicity. Formal wear is the one place where less really is more. Keep It Simple Stupid and you can never go wrong

If you must have a fly plaid, try this - The Fly Plaid is worn by the groom to the alter. At some point, usually just after the exchange of rings, the groom un-pins the fly from his shoulder and drapes it over his brides shoulder. It is now hers, and it is what she wears during the dancing.
And that is the only time and place for a fly plaid. Unless of course, you need an excuse, to wipe every wine glass off every table as you walk by.

[figheadair]

You don't define 'Formal Dress' but my guess is that you mean Black Tie, as opposed to White Tie or Levee wear. The Fly Plaid has no place in any in my view. It belongs in the Hire Shop window. Not that any of us is likely ever to attend a Levee but if one did, then a Half Plaid could be an appropriate addition.

[kingandrew]

With my Prince Charlie and vest, I wear a standard white cotton formal shirt (mine has a wing collar, although turndown is perfectly OK, too). The shirt requires studs and cuff links. I wear a black bow tie (it's worth tying it yourself--it's the same knot as you use to tie your shoes, so it's easy and looks better than pre-tied). Typically, I'll have my pocket watch stowed in the vest. I have a white furry sporran for formal events. Below the kilt, I wear argyle/tartan hose and a pair of patent leather oxfords.

If the weather calls for it, I have a black balmoral bonnet that I may wear on my way to the event I am attending, but it, of course, comes off when I arrive.

Other accessories are strictly optional. Some, like the fly plaid, are pretty expensive and impractical to wear.

If you look around this forum, you will see a lot of good role models for kilted formal wear.

Andrew

[AFS1970]

I will put myself in the minority here about the fly plaid, however they are of limited use. Because of when I first got my formal wear, and how my family was involved with my local St. Andrew's society, there was a lot of information and a lot of misinformation. I regret not getting my fly plaid when I got my kilt. Since I bought them separately they are from different kiltmakers, different mills and it shows up close.

However I really only wore it once a year, there just were not the opportunity that I thought there would be. To my mind it ads a sort of intermediate level between black tie and white tie and does not fit into every event.

So I would say, if you can buy it now, and you think you will have some use for it, do so. Think about where and how often you will be kilted in a formal setting and decide accordingly. I can't say that this will ever be an always or never answer.

[Jock Scot]

I will put myself in the minority here about the fly plaid, however they are of limited use. Because of when I first got my formal wear, and how my family was involved with my local St. Andrew's society, there was a lot of information and a lot of misinformation. I regret not getting my fly plaid when I got my kilt. Since I bought them separately they are from different kiltmakers, different mills and it shows up close.

However I really only wore it once a year, there just were not the opportunity that I thought there would be. To my mind it ads a sort of intermediate level between black tie and white tie and does not fit into every event.

So I would say, if you can buy it now, and you think you will have some use for it, do so. Think about where and how often you will be kilted in a formal setting and decide accordingly. I can't say that this will ever be an always or never answer.

I would not worry about the tartans differing in shade of colours. The Atholl Highlanders are not in the least bothered about it and the last time I watched them at a parade there were at least four very different versions of plaid colours for the Murray tartan.

[Troglodyte]

I will put myself in the minority here about the fly plaid, however they are of limited use. Because of when I first got my formal wear, and how my family was involved with my local St. Andrew's society, there was a lot of information and a lot of misinformation. I regret not getting my fly plaid when I got my kilt. Since I bought them separately they are from different kiltmakers, different mills and it shows up close.

However I really only wore it once a year, there just were not the opportunity that I thought there would be. To my mind it ads a sort of intermediate level between black tie and white tie and does not fit into every event.

So I would say, if you can buy it now, and you think you will have some use for it, do so. Think about where and how often you will be kilted in a formal setting and decide accordingly. I can't say that this will ever be an always or never answer.

I would agree...

Having been left with two and a half yards of cloth when I had my last kilt made (I had bought the end of a 'piece' and it was more than enough for the kilt) the kiltmaker suggested a plaid should be made from the remainder. A 'belted-plaid' was the choice, being fuller and heavier than a fly-plaid.

Whilst essentially decorative, it is also a practical garment - long enough to cover my shoulders, and wrap up those of my lady-love who clings close as we scamper through the sleet after having danced the night away.

[OC Richard]

With full formal kit, Prince Charlie, bow tie, white shirt, waistcoat, dress sporran:
Miniature medals with, or without fly plaid?

About the military medals I know nothing, except to point out that Highland Evening Dress is purely civilian, so I would think you would follow your nation's regulations for wearing their decorations with civilian attire.

About Evening Dress accessories, the background/history is that in the Victorian period men sometimes appeared, in Evening Dress, with the full catalogue of accessories:

plaid and brooch
sword belt and sword
dirk belt and dirk
pair of all-steel Highland pistols
powder-horn on chain
sgian

and often a kilt pin, though in Victorian times kilt pins were far less popular than they are today.



Between 1900 and 1920 Highland Dress underwent a major transformation and all of these accessories were jettisoned save the sgian and kilt pin.

This photo from 1910 shows Evening Dress in transition; the swords and belts are gone, but plaids and dirks remain.

The new small Evening sporrans had yet to appear.



The same dress in a 1909 catalogue



By 1930 all those accessories were gone.



So a man appearing at an evening do in 1930 wearing Victorian impedimenta would be viewed as quite out-of-date.

And so it has remained, though the Kilt Hire Industry (which exploded in popularity beginning in the 1970s) has done its darnedest to sell people on wearing plaids, dirk belts without dirks, etc.