Quote Originally Posted by Thistle Stop
Brian, the equivalent to a suit, with a worsted wool kilt (tartan or not) is to wear a tweed or barathea (fine wool twill) Highland-wear day jacket, in the Argyll or Crail cut, with the same kind of shirt you'd wear with a suit (button-down oxford, for example) and a normal necktie -- a turtleneck shirt would be fine too, if that's a style worn in the workplace with a suit or sportcoat. Most of the 'urban', Utilikilt-type kilts I have seen don't 'dress up' quite so well as a worsted kilt, but if it's in a solid colour and well-pressed, such a kilt could also pass muster with a similar jacket and accessories, if it doesn't have a lot of hardware or cargo pockets hanging about. You definitely don't want to wear a Prince Charlie or other formal jacket or doublet, and unless the casual look is acceptable in the circumstances, you should probably avoid a sweater, polo shirt, etc. Wear a day sporran or semi-formal sporran, conservative kilt pin, knee-length kilt socks with flashes, and business-type oxford shoes. You will look very smart and be the envy of many, I'll wager!

Bravo, Cyndi! Every word as true as it gets.

I love my Utilikilts (all 9 of them), but they simply cannot be dressed-up to qualify as 'formal' or even 'semi-formal' wear. Utilikilts, by design and by fabric, are the equivalent of blue-jeans - they are leisure or work clothes ...... and fabulous ones at that. I would like, and will be getting, even more of them when I come over to North America for Vancouver's "Gathering" in August.

If I want to get away from tartan (yes, it can happen, but not too often) when dressing formally, I opt for one of my plain colour, woollen or wool-mix, traditional-style kilts from "21st Century Kilts" in Edinburgh. There are some new photos in my album over at IMFF (link below) which illustrate this, and I'll be posting some here tomorrow.