Tie with Prince Charlie

[cacunn]

I have a couple of scrunchie cravats and they go great with a PC providing you have a wing collar shirt

McClef could you provide a picture of a scrunchie cravat?

[Arlen]

Here's the thing.
Technically you're supposed to wear a 5 button waistcoat and tie/cravat with an Argyle jacket and a bow tie and 3 button waistocat with a PC.
But... and this is a big but... It's YOUR wedding.
If you actually go to a kilt hire place and say 'Hey, I'd really like the PC jacket but a 5 button waistcoat and a cravat to match my flashes.' they'll usually accomodate you with minimal extra cost.
I, personally, hate bow ties. They make me look like I have no neck. So I would always try to wear a tie and a 5 button with my PC when I was wearing it.
The thing is, for all that I love tradition and respect it and will tell people not to wear their kilt sideways or down to their ankles or whatever, it's clothing.
It's your clothing and your wedding and your pictures. So wear it how you want it as long as you are comfortable and happy and wear it with pride.

[Shane]

While I have great respect for the traditional way in which a Prince Charlie is worn, I have seen the 5 button vest/ruche tie combo popping up more and more and I REALLY like it.

Here's a good example:

http://www.highlandstore.com/acatalo...t__Outfit.html

To me it works great for a black tie alternative. It's a fine blending of traditional and modern styles.

Just my two cents.

Shane

[beloitpiper]

jsethmccall, here's how it is usually done:

An Argyll jacket has a 5-button waistcoat and is worn with a neck tie. This is considered a "less formal" jacket, although I think it looks pretty sharp.

A Price Charlie jacket has a 3-button waistcoat and is worn with a bow tie. This is considered the tuxedo for kilts.

Mix and match if you want. It is your wedding. This is just how it traditionally is done.

[McClef]

McClef could you provide a picture of a scrunchie cravat?

I don't have any decent pics of me modelling one but here is one I won on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=300013302757

And having trawled through my files here is a pic of me wearing it at a Ceilidh:



Best I can do at short notice! (Andrew had a scrunchie on too but the angle is wrong).

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I see lots of pics of guys wearing a PC jacket and 3-button vest with a standard neck tie. So it is done. But it's just wrong, fashion-wise.

The Prince Charlie jacket and vest are for black-tie affairs. The cut and style of the jacket require a level of formality that the standard long neck tie just does not carry with it.

Now, I think that an elegant cravat, like McClef is weariing in the post above looks alright, because the cravat, though it resembles a neck tie, carries with it a higher level of formality. So I think that works.

But a normal neck tie is just out. Sure, people do it, and if you do it no one will probably complain. But something more formal will just look so much better.

You also see people wearing a formal kilt belt with a Prince Charlie and vest, and even sometimes with an Argyle and 5-button vest. This is another example of people commonly wearing something that is incorrect (again, speaking of fashion). The vest and the belt conflict with each other, with the vest typically covering the top half of the belt. To me, it says, "I have all these Scottish accessories and I'm going to wear them all, gosh darn it!"

Any time you wear a vest, leave the belt at home.

This thread is also the first time I've seen the PC jacket being worn with a 5-button Argyle style vest. I don't think it looks bad, just a bit unusual. I think that look would work best with a cravat of some sort, so maintain the level of formality that a PC is cut for.

Aye,
Matt

[cacunn]

I realize that I am fashion challenged but to me a scrunchie cravat looks like a 1950’s wide tie, tied with a large knot. I can easily understand why someone might confuse a scrunchie cravat with a tie.

It would not surprise me to find out that a scrunchie cravat was the transition between cravat and modern tie.

But I do like the look of a scrunchie cravat as a variation on a bow tie for formal look. My barley and hops enhanced waist line is joined by extra chins. On me a bow tie is often lost in one of the extra chins especially if I let my beard grow a little longer than normal.

I hate fashions that were designed for a person standing 5 foot 6 inches and weights 120 pounds.

[cacunn]

I
The vest and the belt conflict with each other, with the vest typically covering the top half of the belt. To me, it says, "I have all these Scottish accessories and I'm going to wear them all, gosh darn it!"

Any time you wear a vest, leave the belt at home.

Aye,
Matt

This confuse me a little in that it appears that most kilt vests are cut a little high and with front edges spreading open to show the belt buckle. I can see some confusion caused by this spread and the non-kilted almost always wearing a belt with pants, especially when many of the hire sites and vendors show a belt worn with a PC & vest.

I guess I'll learn in another 50-60 years.

[jsethmccall]

I had planned to wear the ruche tie/scrunchie cravat b/c it will be easier to match some of other members of my wedding party who will not be wearing kilts. The bride doesn't mind the look of the kilted in a bowtie, its the other groomsmen with tuxs and bowties that she thinks look like waiters. I'm hoping to go with the cravat. Thanks!

[thescot]

The cravat is a new renewal of an old style. Swallow tail coats were once pretty common for day wear, and they were worn with a cravat type tie. And spats, but I won't open that can of worms here.

True, you can wear what you want. A tank top with a kilt and PC is not illegal, just tacky. But some folks like tacky.

Taditional, at least in my tradition, would be a bow tie with a PC--after 5:00! But these days you see tuxes and tails at all hours, I suspect because people equate "dressing up" with tuxes and tails; they just don't know the difference between a day coat and tails.

Wearing a plain black long tie with a tux or argyl jacket would be the ticket for day wear--before 5:00.

Having said all that "Clothes Make the Man" crap, I would strongly advise that you talk to your intended and do as you are told. Life will be much better for you, and a tie is not something to fuss about. Leave that for going out with the boys or fishing.