Proper way to wear a kilt with a tie?

[JSFMACLJR]

Funny that you mentioned the Christmas party. That is coming up soon, and I have considered it. Of course, I'd have to invest in some semi-formal wear. But it might be the perfect opportunity. That's the only occasion I see most of our field superintendents wearing anything except their hard hats and such. They usually will dress up. The office staff usually wears suits and ties, and our wives wear nice party dresses. Showing up in a kilt, decked out to the nines, could be a pleasant surprise. It might be a way to introduce them to the kilt in an impressive manner. Hmmmmm! *rubs hands together*

I wouldn't recommend dressing "to the nines." It sounds like the party is not black tie, so a nice tweed kilt jacket would be perfect for an office Xmas party. As many on this Forum will tell you, tweed jackets with the kilt are worn almost anywhere from the field to a dinner party, to a wedding.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I wouldn't recommend dressing "to the nines." It sounds like the party is not black tie, so a nice tweed kilt jacket would be perfect for an office Xmas party. As many on this Forum will tell you, tweed jackets with the kilt are worn almost anywhere from the field to a dinner party, to a wedding.

If you are going to be building your wardrobe around traditional Highland attire you will find that when dressing casually a nice sweater will always fill the bill. If you need to be a bit more dressed up then a tweed jacket, shirt, and tie will cover just about every imaginable occasion. For those times when formal attire is called for a black Argyll jacket with silver buttons will more than do the biz.

When we lived in Dublin my wife and I often found ourselves invited for a weekend in Scotland. Here's what I'd pack if we were staying with friends in the country:

Wax jacket*
Light weight sweater*
Heavy weight sweater*
Tweed kilt jacket & waistcoat
Black Argyll jacket & five button waistcoat plus a three button waistcoat
Leather sporran (with horn handle sgin dubh and garters inside)
Full mask muskrat sporran (with silver mounted sgian dubh and garters inside)
1 black, self tie, bow tie
2 neckties (in case one is damaged during the weekend)
2 pair of evening hose (one pair in tartan)
3 pair of day wear hose
1 formal shirt w/studs & cuff links
1 white shirt
3 heavy cotton "tattersal" shirts
2 pair of shoes (one for outdoors, one for indoors)

Now this may seem like a lot of clothes, but it isn't. We'd arrive on Friday, sometime after luncheon, and be shown to our room to "freshen up", and change out of out traveling clothes. We'd put in an appearance for tea, wearing a jacket and tie, and meet the other guests staying the weekend (I'm now down one shirt, 1pr hose). We might then wander about the gardens, or otherwise amuse ourselves until drinks just before dinner. This usually meant a quick brush up and change into dark hose, white shirt & tie, five button waitscoat and Argyll jacket (I'm down one more shirt and another pair of hose).

Saturday morning, unless there was someone very grand staying as well, breakfast could usually be polished off in kilt, hose, shirt and light weight sweater. Jacket and tie were worn to breakfast if we were sharing the shreddies with the great and the good. If we were mucking about outdoors then we dressed for the weather (wet, or cold, or wet and cold). At one o'clock we had luncheon, and if dining indoors it was jackets and ties all around for the gents. If it was lunch down at the pub we were saved the necessity of changing until 4PM when it was back into jackets and ties for tea. We were then left to our own devices until 7PM when we'd all assemble in black tie for drinks before dinner (that's two more shirts and two more pair of hose for the day).

Sunday was jacket & tie for church, with a late breakfast after. By 3PM all good guests were back in their traveling togs, slinging their bags into the boot of their car, and headed down the drive and out the gate (having worn all of the clothes packed for the weekend).

Now if you exclude the first three items on the list (*) that is pretty much everything you will ever need in the way of Highland attire, unless you are a regular bon vivant (like Panache) and are seen at all the swell parties as well. All of this, incidentally, fitted neatly into a smallish suitcase.