Need help picking waistcoat colour pattern

[highland mafia]

I'm putting together an outfit for solo piping day completions. Brown brogues, Lovat green hose, purplely flashes, isle of Skye box pleat kilt, brown sporran, white shirt, purple tie.... Now what colour waistcoat?? I've thought about a browny tweed. But I think it might be a bit too brown with the sporran and shoes. What about a grey waistcoat?? Or a greeny colour?? Again with green I wonder if might be a bit too much green.. I don't normally wear a jacket when competing. So just the waistcoat and shirt sleeves.

[Tarheel]

I think a light grey tweed vest with five (or six) dark brown buttons would look smashing with your ensemble. Or, if you have a black pipe covering, black buttons on the vest. Buttons of horn or wood would be my first choices, with cloth covered being next and plastic as a last resort.

I believe light grey would let the Isle of Skye, and purple tie "pop" where a dark grey may mute the image.

[Jock Scot]

How about a muted(not bright) yellow, or buff?

[highland mafia]

How about a muted(not bright) yellow, or buff?

My goodness that would be a bold look. I'm not sure if I can back that colour up with my playing! I'd have to pump a flawless Piobaireachd to be able to wear that in competition.. haha. But then there is something to be said for swagger.

[OC Richard]

Isle of Skye kilt... green hose...brown brogues... brown sporran... purple flashes...purple tie.... brown tweed...

Since the tartan is green, purple, and brown you're repeating the colours of the kilt over and over.

My preference is to do the opposite: avoid as much as possible all the main colours present in the kilt.

I wear my Isle of Skye kilt all the time, and with it I often wear hose, flashes, shirt, and tie in various blues, claret, red... for the very reason that the tartan doesn't contain those colours.

For me the name of the game is coordinating, which is the opposite of matching.

The exception for me is that I do often wear a brown tweed waistcoat, though the "brown" is closer to taupe, not the chocolate brown that appears in the tartan.

So yes indeed tweed is nice, be it brown or grey or green or whatever looks nice; I wouldn't worry about matching. I like bold tweeds, for example with an overcheck (called "windowpane check" here in the USA) or any sort of check or herringbone or what have you.

Here's with a brown/taupe-ish waistcoat and Cheviot "bison" hose



Here's with charcoal grey tweed and claret hose. The tie looks purple but is actually a geometric design of claret and various other colours.



Here's a soft green tweed and St Andrews Blue hose and claret flashes. The necktie is blue, claret, and grey stripes; only the pale grey appears in the tartan.