Choosing a Sporran

[OC Richard]

there is considerable confusion over formal and informal and casual. Formal is best bib and tucker, Morning suits in the day and white tie and tails in the evening. Informal is a lounge suit in the day and lounge suit or black tie in the evening, casual is anything else. For reasons of economy Informal wear tends to be acceptable at formal events.

For sure these things are mysterious to most Americans including myself, due to such events being very rare here.

For a formal event in the day you should wear a jacket and tie or for the most very formal and if you have the wherewithal a doublet. Although a tweed Argyl jacket is acceptable I favour a black Argyle because it better matches the suits or morning coats that others will be wearing.

My only observation here is that with traditional Highland Dress the materials of a jacket appears to have been more diagnostic than the cut. So one sees jackets cut like doublets, black with silver buttons, and jackets cut like Argylls, black with silver buttons, both treated as equally formal, both worn with black tie, white tie, and jabot.

Argylls made of heavy grey or brown tweed, though cut the same as the black ones with silver buttons, appear to have been regarded as Day Dress.

I suppose a middle ground would be an Argyll of fine black tweed with black plastic buttons.

(Prince Charlies are a 20th century invention so I've left them out of this talk of tradition.)