Personal flair

[Nathan]

Actually Nathan, you did not occur to me as I wrote my piece, but as we say over here, "if the cap fits then by all means wear it."

It was my thread so I assumed you were commenting on my particular outfits on the link. How silly of me.

Hope you’re well. It’s been a very long time!

[Jock Scot]

I am sorry Nathan I know of no link and if I did, I doubt that I would know what to do with it!

I am fine thank you.Yes indeed your presence is very welcome here after a very long break as far as I am concerned.

[Lady Grey]

Again I come from a different angle.
Use general Fashion styling rules and tips to add flair.

A gentleman of my acquaintance is the ants pants when it comes to dressing himself in a Saxon suit with fair and ‘Class’

Like a kilt wearer he has the basics that he spends money on (caveat: he has the figure and income to spend big dressing in the corporate world but the basic rules apply)

He has the classic navy, grey & pinstripe suits = Wool custom made kilts, jackets and vests, in the best fabric that can be afforded for a kilt wearer.
Plain basic shirts of high quality fabric and tailoring - that means they fit and are well cared for/laundered and last for years but often in non traditional colours = the same for kilt a wearer.

His dirty little secret is footwear.... Jeffery West seems to be his latest indulgence (from his social media posts)
His personal flair is added wearing these shoes and boots with the classics (red soles with pictures anyone?)

His other method of adding flair is through ties and pocket squares.
Nothing loud or obnoxious but often quirky or unusual.
One of his best styling looks is to not match the tie and pocket square but blend them not contrast
One day I saw him with a navy tie with spots, the pocket square was navy with hearts.
It’s those little subtle touches that add flair without going overboard and looking like a fashion tragic.

So why not try wearing flashes made of ribbon that adds some whimsy or fun? Is it totally against traditional kilt wear to have spotted flashes?
Know a knitter? Get some fun hose tops made in different or quirky patterns, textures and colours to wear with plain hose?
Change out the buttons on a jacket or vest for something unusual or personal - quick and easy to do (but great buttons can be expensive)

When adding personal flair I adhere to the KISS principle.
Keep It Simple Stupid

[Terry Searl]

Good questions. Not easy to answer though! I will try to give you a few impressions though.

It all depends whether the Scottish Mid 30's come from the Highlands and from a kilt wearing family, or they come from the Lowlands and from a non kilt wearing family. The demarcation lines are not that precisely marked in real life, but as a huge generalisation it actually runs fairly true.

If a Mid 30's lad from a kilt wearing family then access to Grand parents, Great Grand parents and even Great Great Grand parents kilt attire in the form of sporrans, sporran chains, bespoke kilts are available and even more importantly, generations of kilt attire know how. The end result is that the mid 30's lad from this sort of background, ends up dressing pretty traditionally.

Those from a non kilt wearing back ground who actually want to wear the kilt often buy the cheaper off the peg kilt attire, hire it when needed, or don't ever bother with the kilt.

Remember that the utility style kilts are not seen often in Scotland-----I think that I have only seen three here. Bespoke kilt attire is still the aim of many young kilt wearers, they will often not buy kilt attire until they can buy the best. I think, particularly in the Lowlands where kilt attire knowledge is scarce then, the North American attitude to kilts is understandably the easiest option.

Now, these are my impressions based on observations that I have gained over the years and of course there will be exceptions to what I have said, as there always are. However, if you go to the search section on this website look for two threads started by me "Jock Scot" titled "Food For Thought" and "Food For Thought Two(F4T2)" . They are couple of amateur surveys that I did in Scotland which should not be regarded as to what ALL kilt wearers in Scotland think, nevertheless you may find the answers to the questions enlightening. Let me know what you think?

I don't always agree with what you say Jock. Being a Canadian and wearing a kilt because I want to, not wearing it to imitate a highland person, but wearing it for my own pure pleasure and for the most part semi traditionally (heh! heh!), by that I mean with some personal "flairs".

Like I said, I am not trying to imitate a highland person, my heritage is; maternal Grand Parents were Scottish (Glasgow) and Paternal grand parents Irish (Dublin).

I wear my kilted attire for my own sheer pleasure and really am not concerned much about what others think.
A major concern though is that in my wearing of my kilted attire that I show the utmost respect for the tradition and heritage of wearing a kilt.

Having said the above, I would sincerely recommend that everyone should read Your archived "Food For thought" and "Food for thought Two (F4T2)"
To me in your survey number one, it was predominately of Older folk, (Thank-you Mrs Jock for putting the questions together) but in both cases the questions really did show how the kilt is worn in the highlands and how it is thought of by others, sincere others, rather than just the pub or sports crowd

Thanx again Jock it was very well put together, The comments to the thread proved that .......and if the moderators don't mind my saying it should be put back out for the " newbies" read
If Jock hadn't mentioned it, I would never have found it ........sometimes there are just too many sub headings to look into and I would imagine that is especially so for those that are new to this site

[Terry Searl]

Personal flair is important. It's shown not so much, I think, in the choice of accessories as in the style of those accessories.

The question a lot of folks here need to ask themselves is whether they want to dress as a Scot would, or just wear Scottish clothes the way they like them.

I prefer the former and that requires careful attention and learning. The result is that I have some accessories that may soon be for sale.

Not being from the Highlands or any where in Scotland, I don't try to dress like a Scots Highland person, to my mind that would be on the verge of wearing a costume .........JUST MY OPINION and I hope no offense is taken from that comment

I wear my kilted attire for my own pure personal enjoyment. It did give my Scots/Canadian step mother a gleam and a sparkle in her eye and a wonderfully huge smile when she saw me for the first time in my newly purchased day wear kilt attire on her 100th birthday .....and the gleam and the smile were as they say on the television commercial...... PRICELESS.
Now that she is gone I am left with that most wonderful memory......... and the addiction to kilts and kilted attire

[Father Bill]

Terry, I'm glad for your Mom's happiness and for your happy memories.

I do however think that probably the Highlanders know the best ways to wear kilts, so I'm willing to be taught by them, not copy them. That's no costume, just the proper way to wear their garment.

[Terry Searl]

Terry, I'm glad for your Mom's happiness and for your happy memories.

I do however think that probably the Highlanders know the best ways to wear kilts, so I'm willing to be taught by them, not copy them. That's no costume, just the proper way to wear their garment.

I appreciate what you say father Bill but from my own experience, traveling about Scotland, It is extremely hard to find teachers of highland attire, even in Scotland. Most of the Kilt shops showed those outfits so dreaded here and called hire wear. Even the higher end custom shops showed those Hire outfits in their shop windows and unless you went in and asked for a particular item, there was very little evidence of it out for all the public to see. Often the clerk would have to go into the back to find what it was that you wanted......... When discussing the ideas with my Scottish friends they tend to look at me and ask, BUT WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO OWN YOUR OWN KILT AND JACKET.!? Most of them would just rent attire or borrow it from an OLD relative, on the very odd occasion it would be worn, rather than put out a great deal of money to buy there own attire
Looking up on the internet shows much the same.

From what I read here, we only have a very few true Highland members that offer their insight and opinions on this site with any regularity and for the most part I think they are valid but just that, their opinions, BASED on facts, no doubt,.


Many others, NOT highlanders living in the highlands now, show more historical views rather than what would be considered modern apparel, after all the kilt and fashion has evolved quite a bit over the last couple hundred years. For the most part those much older views look more like costumes,...... except in the catalogues from long ago that were more apt to show true fashion trends, not just historical views
Having said all that, I think it is very hard to find a large group of highlanders of VARIOUS ages to learn from.....again this is just MY OPINION. I applaud you for your effort to find different teachers and to be taught though

I am not that long in wearing kilted attire and am still more in the pure enjoyment and experimenting phases........ as you likely gather from my earlier posts, I am from North America and particularly from Canada's west coast, so am more influenced from my own environment and times.
I do wear my attire with the absolute utmost respect for the tradition and for the kilt itself......but I tend to favour my own pleasure rather than what was worn a great long time ago, or by a very few people now, who are on the other side of the world.

....... I always enjoy your posts and photos and opinions even if our opinions don't always agree.......One of the wonderful things about this site is the ability to be able to share our opinions and to discuss and disagree and to do so with the utmost respect for the opinions of others

[Jock Scot]

Alright, we all have a view on why we wear the kilt and how and what bits of attire we wear. Some take the purest line and take the view that Highland Scots only should wear the kilt and others take differing views and in a free world we are able to make choices. When we make those choices we have to know that not every one is going to agree with them, if we don’t learn that early in life then we are in for a rough ride! So we learn to a greater or lesser extent, tolerance.

Some, too many, on this website in my humble opinion are far too quick to defend their choices of attire for any given event. Yes, there are general attire requirements for day or evening attire for example and I think most of us accept that, but it is the following discussions on the finer details that can and sadly do, get mired in the minute details.

What gets lost in these “minute detail” and "I am not Scottish so I can wear the kilt as I please" discussions is how to dress for any given event to BEST EFFECT. I am sorry to use capitals as I gather it’s bad form to use them in internet conversations, but on an international kilt website we seem to have lost sight of this and perhaps it’s only us in the Highlands of Scotland that need to concern ourselves with all the historical details. In the end, all this has little to do with traditions, historical precedent, where in the world the kilt is worn, or even personal flair.

However, how to wear kilt attire “to best effect” does require experience.

[Jock Scot]

Nathan.

I think it is the tartan jacket and waistcoat that really raises an eye brow over here for day attire. Why? If we consider that a tartan tie is considered over the top by many experienced kilt wearers here, then it follows that anything more, is hardly likely to be met with enthusiasm!

So what do I for example consider reasonable personal flair for day kilt attire. A regimental/club/college tie with a personal meaning, for a start. A not off the peg tweed kilt jacket and waistcoat and although rather more difficult these days as marled hose have now been replaced with a lovely choice of hose colours, there are still some interesting choices to be found. Also perhaps, an addition of a subtle non standard kilt pin, but nothing too loud. So in all, very different to your choices.

For formal evening wear, black tie events appear to be more common over here and they are regarded as a no big deal event. So the bog standard black tie, dress(UK definition)shirt, Black barathea silver buttoned argyll(BBSBA) with a three buttoned black waistcoat if required or a Prince Charlie(PC) with a three buttoned black waistcoat if required, plain coloured hose and well polished black brogues or black oxfords will do nicely for almost ALL black tie events.

It is only when we head towards the more rare ultra formal evening dress event do the patterned hose and buckled shoes and dress sporran and sporran chain come out and THEN is the time to start to let loose the three button tartan waistcoat and perhaps a tartan dress evening jacket. Interestingly, the tartan evening jackets and jackets of interesting "cut" are very much a Western Highland thing.

"Over-egging the cake" is just not regarded as a merit over here, by those with experience.

[Manu]

Nathan.

I think it is the tartan jacket and waistcoat that really raises an eye brow over here for day attire. Why? If we consider that a tartan tie is considered over the top by many experienced kilt wearers here, then it follows that anything more, is hardly likely to be met with enthusiasm!

So what do I for example consider reasonable personal flair for day kilt attire. A regimental/club/college tie with a personal meaning, for a start. A not off the peg tweed kilt jacket and waistcoat and although rather more difficult these days as marled hose have now been replaced with a lovely choice of hose colours, there are still some interesting choices to be found. Also perhaps, an addition of a subtle non standard kilt pin, but nothing too loud. So in all, very different to your choices.

For formal evening wear, black tie events appear to be more common over here and they are regarded as a no big deal event. So the bog standard black tie, dress(UK definition)shirt, Black barathea silver buttoned argyll(BBSBA) with a three buttoned black waistcoat if required or a Prince Charlie(PC) with a three buttoned black waistcoat if required, plain coloured hose and well polished black brogues or black oxfords will do nicely for almost ALL black tie events.

It is only when we head towards the more rare ultra formal evening dress event do the patterned hose and buckled shoes and dress sporran and sporran chain come out and THEN is the time to start to let loose the three button tartan waistcoat and perhaps a tartan dress evening jacket. Interestingly, the tartan evening jackets and jackets of interesting "cut" are very much a Western Highland thing.

"Over-egging the cake" is just not regarded as a merit over here, by those with experience.

Would it be possible to make a distinction between the traditional highland approach to kilt attire and a North American approach to traditional highland kilt attire? I think for the most part those in North America who consider themselves traditionalists stay loyal and pay respect to the Scottish highland traditions of kilted attire but given cultural differences, they are bound to show somewhere in our attire. I personally do not see this as a disregard or lack of respect to the highland traditions but an adjustment to our cultural frame of reference. It is still distinctly Scottish with the minor subtle differences that only and experienced highlander kilt wearer would notice. Thoughts?