Jacket advice for colorblind person

[Silmakhor]

Hi all,

I have a kilt on order after 30+ years without, and I'm considering jacket options. The tartan is leaping salmon:

https://nicolsonkiltmakers.com/produ...house-of-edgar

Question is, would a brown herringbone tweed jacket work with this? I can't think of any reason it would not. But... I am colorblind, so advice is appreciated. A complicating factor is that I do plan on getting more kilts, and versatility will be a factor:

• something like a weathered black watch based tartan,
• A modern red tartan such as Scott, McIntosh, or MacGregor
• Spirit of Scotland Ancient, which is a lovely faded purple with green.
  

The second request is - I'd love recommendations on specific fabrics from MM or Lochcarron. Right now I am going off of the names of the fabrics rather than the screenshots, but that's not a reliable method for a colorblind person unless they have something obvious like "coffee" in the title

I live in Vermont, so the climate is often good for tweed. Thanks!

[kilted2000]

The great thing about kilts and tweed is that everything goes with pretty much everything. Remember matching everything is not required.

[Jock Scot]

You will do what you will do, but if I may respectfully suggest that buying more tartan than you have already will only make your colour choice problems worse. Many of us in Scotland, who can clearly see colours, stick with just one tartan and might possibly have a brace of kilts, one say in modern colours and one say, in ancient colours. We then find the colours of jackets, hose, ties etc., that we think march, ------I repeat, march------ happily together and that is that. For someone in your position I would have thought that that might be helpful. Besides , its less expensive that way!

[JPS]

One thing that I found very helpful is that Marton Mills will let you put together a sample pack. Go through their website, add a few choices to your cart, check out (free of charge), and just about the time you forget you've done that, your samples will arrive. It's easy.

[Silmakhor]

One thing that I found very helpful is that Marton Mills will let you put together a sample pack. Go through their website, add a few choices to your cart, check out (free of charge), and just about the time you forget you've done that, your samples will arrive. It's easy.

Oh, cool! Will do!

[R100PDave]

Not wanting to rain on anyone's parade but, I don't understand the desire to have numerous kilts unless they have a family/clan connection. Having random kilts , just because I can, doesn't seem to have the same meaning as having the actual family connection to said tartans. Just my opinion, no offense intended.

[Silmakhor]

Not wanting to rain on anyone's parade but, I don't understand the desire to have numerous kilts unless they have a family/clan connection. Having random kilts , just because I can, doesn't seem to have the same meaning as having the actual family connection to said tartans. Just my opinion, no offense intended.

In turn, I don't understand the desire to have only one kilt, just because it's connected to a clan, instead of several that are worn on a regular basis as a regular item of clothing because it's something we enjoy. Just my opinion, no offense intended.


It seems like there are several reasons why people wear kilts. The obvious one is as some type of familial inheritance, just for special occasions. Another might be because one plays pipes. Finally - and this might be more of an American thing - some people simply want to wear them on a regular basis as part of their daily clothing, for whatever motivation. IMO all three reasons are valid.

[Father Bill]

Well, definitely an American thing, yes, not a Scottish or Canadian one.

I see a tartan as a name tag, and I'm not much interested in wearing someone else's name.

[piperalpha]

Not wanting to rain on anyone's parade but, I don't understand the desire to have numerous kilts unless they have a family/clan connection. Having random kilts , just because I can, doesn't seem to have the same meaning as having the actual family connection to said tartans. Just my opinion, no offense intended.

I feel the same way. I’ve been wearing the same kilt for 20+ years. They last an awful long time of you buy a good one and look after it. I’ve no issues with someone wanting multiple kilts. If you want 20 kilts that’s great.

[OC Richard]

Hi all,

I have a kilt on order...would a brown herringbone tweed jacket work with this? I can't think of any reason it would not. But... I am colorblind, so advice is appreciated. A complicating factor is that I do plan on getting more kilts, and versatility will be a factor:

Weathered Black Watch-based
Modern red tartan
Spirit of Scotland Ancient

I'd love recommendations on specific fabrics from MM or Lochcarron.

The surest way to avoid any possibility of colour-clash is to go with a charcoal grey jacket. Black, white, and the entire grey spectrum in between is devoid of colour and therefore can't clash with any kilt.

Your list of tartan-colours is interesting. What strikes me first is that only the "modern red" tartans use traditional colours.

Leaping Salmon is beautiful! However the combination of colours isn't one I think I've seen in any tradtional tartan, or for that matter any tartan. It does bear a slight resemblance to County Cavan, a 1980s House of Edgar creation, and also lovely.

Spirit of Scotland Ancient is also beautiful and not traditional-looking. I have a swatch; it's very subtle, and at a distance almost looks like plain solid grey. So subtle in fact that I think it would be a good candidate for a jacket and/or waistcoat and/or full suit (jacket, waistcoat, and kilt).

The "weathered" colour-scheme was originally invented by D C Dalgleish in the late 1940s. They called the scheme "reproduction" colours, due to the fact that the colours were supposedly based on an old fragment of tartan dug up from the Culloden battlefield. However this fragment, if it ever existed, has never been seen much less submitted for expert analysis.

In any case all of those would look great with a charcoal grey jacket.

Brown tweed jackets look great with any traditional tartan in "modern" "ancient" or "weathered" colours, but I worry that brown tweed might look strange against the dusty purple of SoS ancient. Since I have a swatch of that tartan, and also swatches of several MM tweeds, when I get home from work later today I'll get out the swatches and take some pics.

Just for reference Leaping Salmon