Casual Southern California Wedding

**eclarkhb** · 1st March 13, 05:05 PM

I'll be attending a casual afternoon wedding here in Southern California in June. I'd like to wear a kilt because it seems comfortable & fun, and the bride has requested that the guests wear shades of green & blue. I'm a member of Clan Campbell, so needless to say, the Campbell Ancient tartan should fit right in. Full Disclosure: I'm not an experienced kilt wearer, I don't wear kilts everyday like many on this forum, and I don't have very many kilt accessories. As a matter of fact, at the moment, I have only 1 kilt

- it is a USAK Casual in the Clan Campbell tartan. It's wonderful & I've worn it to compete in Highland Games, to festivals & out on St. Patrick's day, and maybe 1 other time to a pub. But I've never dressed it up with anything more formal than a t-shirt.

I've been lurking on xmarks for a couple of years, and it seems to me that kilts are easy to dress for the pub (t-shirt), easy to dress for formal events (duh!) & easy to wear when its cold & casual (just throw on a sweater). But my novice & inexperienced opinion is that dressing in a kilt for a casual event outdoors where its warm it a more difficult to pull off. People are very casual in Southern California beach communities. The attire at the wedding will probably be a mixture of khaki's or slacks with Polo shirts or Tommy Bahama shirts. I've seen the pictures of Hawaiian shirts with kilts - and that's just not going to work for me. I've tried polo shirts with my kilt before & the way the material gathers just makes it look a little sloppy with a traditional, high-wasted kilt, in my humble opinion.

So....my plan is to try to find a short sleeve shirt that is a bit more fitted so it will tuck-in properly, without gathering about the waist in a messy way.

There are also a few things I'm planning to do to "upgrade" the look of the outfit.

1) I'm planning on getting a new kilt: 5-yard, 16-oz wool, Campbell Ancient tartan. That's going to upgrade my look considerably over the Casual Kilt I have today.
2) I'll wear some type of brown or black dress shoe most likely. But not Gillies, I think that's too formal for this event.
3) I currently own a simple, black Day Sporran - I'll probably get a new sporran as well. Haven't decided whether to go with a Day Sporran, Semi-Formal or Hunting... Any opinions on this would be appreciated. The guiding factor would be I want something different than what I have today but also something that I can get a lot of use out of & wear to different types of events. I've been drooling over Artificer's sporrans....hopefully I can squeeze one into the budget...it will be tough.

The good news is that I have 5 months to pull my first "Real" kilt outfit together. Anyone have thoughts or opinions on my approach so far? Am I over-thinking things? Yes, probably

Thanks in Advance

**Zardoz** · 1st March 13, 07:01 PM

Sounds good to me, a nice short sleeve shirt is all you need for warm weather casual.

**piperdbh** · 1st March 13, 07:04 PM

As far as ghillie brogues go, unless you're in a 'pipe band where they are part of the uniform, you'd do well to never buy them.

**Nik** · 1st March 13, 07:05 PM

Sounds like you have most of your outfit decided. You mentioned wanting a short sleeve shirt, I don't know how it would look but you can find or have tailored a short sleeve dress shirt. My father did that for two shirts he wore at my cousin and my own wedding, mind you he was wearing a suitcoat over it.

As for the sporran, a semi-formal would fit the feel of the event just fine. If you'd like one that is more fitting for a wider range you can look at a hunting sporran. They are often able to be worn from casual all the way to formal. Not always but many times they can be worn for more formal events. I know Artificer makes some nice looking hunting sporrans, I only wish I has the money for one.

Last bit don't for get a nice pair of flashes and hose to help pull everything together.

-Nik

**eclarkhb** · 1st March 13, 10:16 PM

Thanks for the replies! I like the pic with the short sleeve shirt - thank you!

And I agree on the Ghillie Brogues...

Yes tailoring a shirt is probably a fantastic idea. I have broad shoulders & a relatively small waist, so most shirts don't fit correctly out of the box.

As far as flashes & hose; yes, I'm planning to get some nice light-blue hose & wool tartan flashes I guess. Not sure where to get nice hose & flashes, any suggestions?

The more I think about it, the more I'm jonesing to get this put together

Thanks again for the replies!

**eclarkhb** · 1st March 13, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by eclarkhb

Not sure where to get nice hose & flashes, any suggestions?

I just found http://www.scottishkilthose.com/ ...... wow!

**Spartan Tartan** · 2nd March 13, 06:47 AM

If you already have a day sporran, save your money and use it. If it is a casual event, you will be fine with the sporran you have. Personally, I do not care for the semi-dress sporrans. They never look correct to my eye. A plain leather sporran ought to work for nearly anything that is not specifically formal.

**sydnie7** · 2nd March 13, 08:52 AM

If you don't have flashes yet, there's plenty of time to make (or find a friend to make) them for you. Arlen has posted a tutorial on simple knitted garters, which Bob and I prefer, and BarbT has posted a tutorial on making fabric flashes. She shows tartan but you could just as easily use any solid-color fabric.

I've been knitting a lot of flashes lately and have a reasonably large selection of colors. . . just what are you wanting? And Bob has a few excess sporrans that we have thought of selling off. Sounds as if your event is after the Costa Mesa Games, where we are apt to meet up and could discuss possibilities.

**OC Richard** · 2nd March 13, 09:02 PM

It brings up a good point, because Highland Dress is usually thought of as including a jacket, and was designed for a much cooler climate than we have here. (I went out before dawn this morning in shorts and flip-flops and was just fine!)

I don't have any sort of thought-out warm-weather outfit, but wear the same thing I usually do, just take my jacket off, as here in Las Vegas

Usually I'm piping and I dress up a bit more, wearing a waistcoat

Or like this, attending the Anime Expo

So were I to attend an outdoor SoCal casual wedding, and be in kilts, I'd probably wear some such thing, ghillies, hose, kilt, shirt, and probably waistcoat.

About sporrans, I need something more informal! I wear that Edwardian goathair one all the time, no matter what the event. (I'm working on it: my c1955 MOD "Culloden" cantle is on its way to have a new bag made.)

For an informal outdoor wedding, any sort of Day Dress sporran would be traditionally appropriate. Here's a selection from the traditional mid-20th century "canon"

BTW ghillies started out as very informal footwear; in the mid-19th century they were usually light brown roughout/suede leather, and thought of as an outdoor shoe.

**eclarkhb** · 3rd March 13, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by sydnie7

If you don't have flashes yet, there's plenty of time to make (or find a friend to make) them for you. Arlen has posted a tutorial on simple knitted garters, which Bob and I prefer, and BarbT has posted a tutorial on making fabric flashes. She shows tartan but you could just as easily use any solid-color fabric.

I've been knitting a lot of flashes lately and have a reasonably large selection of colors. . . just what are you wanting? And Bob has a few excess sporrans that we have thought of selling off. Sounds as if your event is after the Costa Mesa Games, where we are apt to meet up and could discuss possibilities.

Meeting up in Costa Mesa Sounds great! As far as "Just what are you wanting" I have no idea

But I'll try to figure something out. I think knitted garter ties could potentially be a nice touch to add a little "swag" to my outfit. I think I'd like to do something contrasty with the hose as well, need to think about it for a while...