The Tweed Argyll.

[Jock Scot]

I have had this niggling thought in my head for quite a time now and a couple of interesting threads on the go at the moment have brought it to the fore. Now this is not a criticism of any one's choices, its more an observation and I do wonder if the tweed Argyll (plus waist coat in some circumstances) and its role with the kilt is misunderstood.

When I say tweed argyll I include the crail, the braemar and any other style of tweed day kilt jacket under the same heading. None is more or less formal than the other and are just a slightly different variation of style, nothing more and in the end which style we choose matters not. The use of "day" in its description also can and I think does cause confusion with some too.

The tweed argyll can and is worn to events varying from a BBQ to weddings, funerals, drinks dos, lunches, business meetings, meeting Royalty and so on during the day and is also well suited to some of the more informal evening events too. The colour matters not and all this nonsense of black tweed, for this and grey tweed for that and one colour is more formal than another is well just that -----nonsense!

A tweed argyll fits the role of a business suit, lounge suit, sports jacket, blazer all in one and I have to say that many here seem to fail to understand this. Now much of this I think stems from a lack of experience, a lack of confidence, a lack of knowledge, cultural differences and even climate considerations all of which is perfectly understandable and reasonable and I do recognise full well those situations.

Now in Scotland, we on the whole understand,(we ought to!) the place of the tweed argyll simply because we have grown up with it and that is an advantage that many of you don't have. We also have no such worries on colours either and assorted shades of greens, browns,blues, mixtures of colours, herringbone, this check, that check, hounds-tooth patterns and so on are all perfectly acceptable to us Scots. We also might have more than one tweed argyll in our wardrobe and the new one might be let loose for weddings and the tatty one might venture out on the hill for a walk.

So how about being a tad more adventurous you chaps outwith Scotland and you will be amazed how versatile a tweed argyll can be.