Yet Another Jacket Thread

[Kilted Rogue]

With all the talk recently about what jacket is "this" and what to wear "there". I started wondering, What about wearing jackets of different material than the kilt? most suits the pants are wool and the jacket is wool or linen top and bottom. As far as fashion goes i have always understood that your dress to match your fabrics. Like i wouldnt wear wool pants and a linen jacket just as an example.
I know I am picking on wool and Linen.There are other fabrics out there, they are just an easy example as thats what most suits i have experience with are made of.

So what say you Kilt Fashion Aficionado



( i just received 7 suit coats from a deceased relative and i am trying to figure out what i am going to do with them all. 2 tweed, 1 silk, 1 camel hair, a blazer,2 wool . )

[The Wizard of BC]

In our current world of Fashion it is usual to call it a "Suit" if a Jacket and trousers are of the same fabric and designed to be worn together.

But fashion has always had room for wearing a Jacket that does not match the trousers.

This not only applies to color and pattern. A Tweed Wool Jacket paired with Cotton Cord trousers has been a very nice look for quite a while now.

The same goes with Wool and Linen. A pair of light "Tropical" Wool trousers paired with a Linen Coat has been worn, and in style, since the British started to hang out at the Raffles Hotel.

The "Rules" only come into effect as far as fashion is concerned when it comes to the pairing of some patterns and some color combinations.
You don't usually wear trousers with a Horizontal pattern with a Jacket that has a Vertical pattern.

You don't usually wear a Blue Jacket with Brown trousers. Not that it can't be done and sometimes is but in very general terms Blue colors go with Grays, & Blacks while Browns go with Reds and Greens.

But then again, no hard and fast rules.

This whole matching thing is overrated in my opinion. While it is common to try to pull a color out of the Kilt to match the hose, flashes or shirt with It is also common to use the Kilt as a stand alone while matching the other parts of the outfit to each other regardless of the color of the Tartan in the Kilt.

The bad part of allowing everyone to do as they please regarding color is that very few men have been taught the basics of color sense. Hence we end up with the "Golf outfit". 53 different colors in 32 different patterns all in the same outfit. Think of any outfit in the movie "Caddy Shack". That stuff really happens and can be see almost any day.

When in doubt, ask your wife. Then look in a mirror.

[Kilted Rogue]

When in doubt, ask your wife. Then look in a mirror.

Very True on that note, and that is what lead me to ask this question.

my wife always tells me that the fabrics have to match, or it doesnt look "right"

[ForresterModern]

Very True on that note, and that is what lead me to ask this question.

my wife always tells me that the fabrics have to match, or it doesnt look "right"

While it is generally true that most wives have more fashion sense and color sense than most husbands (you can substitute girlfriends and boyfriends) that is not always true. I buy all my own clothes, match the colors myself and am complemented regularly on my style choices. My wife can't go shopping without me to give her advice and find the right fit and colors for her (this goes back to my college days where all my girlfriends girlfriends insisted I go shopping with them to act as their fashion consultant), and as such her advice for me in the morning is limited to a second look in the mirror by me only when she turns to vomit in the garbage can. She is not too bad recognizing bad choices by other men but it just does not work for her on me. Then again, I am the kind of person who can see a tie in one shop, a shirt in another, pants in a third, and a jacket in a fourth, and without ever seeing them all together beside one another pretty much match up a nice outfit---just have that natural color and texture sense.

Don't forget that sometimes mixing textures can be very nice, especially if the pieces are near each other in color tones. Look at people like Mel Gibson and Michael Douglas in their choices of all greys or blacks but different fabric texture mixes, maybe with one piece having an accent color of a subtle nature (a stripe or check). Tweed goes well with corduroy as long as both are not busy, wool and linen can coexist quite well in the right setting.

Nice thing about the kilt is you can either choose to work it into the color scheme of your outfit (or rather bulid your outfit around the colors in the kilt) or you can go with basic multipurpos colors like black, grey, white, cream and sometimes even Navy blue and they will work with almost any tartan (well usually) if you keep the accoutrements simple and basic. Busy rarely works with busy, unless that is your intent---i.e., tartan kilt, matching tartan jacket and waistcoat cut on the bias, matching tartan tie and tartan hose---to some of us (read me) a bit of an over the top look, escpecially when most believe the kilt shoud be the center of attention in your outfit.

Haunt the gallery for pictures of other folks to see what you think looks good. Take style cues from MacMurdo and Panache who have distinct and bold but restrained styles, or Hamish who has a more sedate autumnal palate. Expecially look at the many wedding photos for reasonably accurate dress styles (escept for maybe the white hose).

Really look at the colors in your tartan, not just the basic undercheck (thanks Barb for the lesson) but also each and everyone of the overchecks, as a nice accent color may make itself available to you to add that dash of flair (I have a subtle yellow stripe in my FM family tartan kilt that I sometimes like to pick up in the flashes when the rest of my outfit is the predominant red or green of the basic tartan---I matched tan shirt and hose with the bolder colors of the Isle of Skye but it worked becasue the tan was in there, albeit in a fairly sublte fashion). Tries things once, either at home in front of the mirror or out in public, if your level of boldness allows it, and see what it looks like in all different lightings and situations. You might even try keeping track with notws of things that seem to work well together so you can refer back to them at a later date for a repeat performance.

Lastly, I cannot stress enough each person finding their own color palate that suits their complexion, personality, and overall style, as this helps guide you in what general direction to go looking for things that will suit your personal style best. Generally they fall into four categories known as the seasons: Spring (think lots of pastels and easter egg colors with white as your base and other colors like navy blue or light grey as additional bases), Summer (bold reds and royal blues and kelly greens, again generally with a white, navy blue, and sometimes black base), Fall (think Annie Hall with browns, tans, rusts greys, medium olives, ochres with a tan or olive or grey or cream or medium to dark bronw base), and Winter (me)(think blacks, greys, dark olives with hard contrasts to creams, whites, various medium to dark blues, even very dark browns, with the occasional summer color only as a subtle accent). As a Winter you would almost never find me in either a Madras jacket or an easter egg color shirt, unless it was fairly subdued under my other winter color base. (today I am dressed in all black except for a little white accent at the edges of my sleeves and collars).

Sorry for the prolonged style lesson, probaby uninvited and overblown. Maybe somebody learned something useful from my diatribe, though.

[ChattanCat]

With all the talk recently about what jacket is "this" and what to wear "there". I started wondering, What about wearing jackets of different material than the kilt? most suits the pants are wool and the jacket is wool or linen top and bottom. As far as fashion goes i have always understood that your dress to match your fabrics. Like i wouldnt wear wool pants and a linen jacket just as an example.
I know I am picking on wool and Linen.There are other fabrics out there, they are just an easy example as thats what most suits i have experience with are made of.

So what say you Kilt Fashion Aficionado

( i just received 7 suit coats from a deceased relative and i am trying to figure out what i am going to do with them all. 2 tweed, 1 silk, 1 camel hair, a blazer,2 wool . )

First, there really is no rule for wearing a jacket with a kilt. You might want to wear a Prince Charlie to black tie engagements but the kilt doesn't have to match the jacket fabric.

As far as you recent acquisition of jacets, I would modify them to make them kilt jackets.

Cheers,

[Laird O'the Cowcaddens]

Common sense, to some. A refreshing glimpse to others. Good idea about converting them to kilt jackets; I* have read a few threads posted by a laddie in CA (Panache), of course that presumes that they fit you somewhat to begin with. Anyway, thanks for stirring the pot a wee bit.

[Kilted Rogue]

As far as you recent acquisition of jacets, I would modify them to make them kilt jackets.

Cheers,

Well i dont want to mod all of them, and i dont have but one tartan kilt(bw) and 2 UK's. so i will probly mod 1/2 of them and see.

I do have a suit that i dont wear and it has a waist coat with it..... but i digress

[Twa_Corbies]

The general rule of thumb with jackets and kilts (from a traditionalist point of view) is that tweed jackets are worn for ordinary casual day-dress and these can be either solid or a distric-check/glenplaid pattern; while a finer woolen fabric such as barathea or a plain twill weave in a solid color is worn for a more business-like look, black being the most formal for daytime or "morning" dress (not to be confused with mourning); other colors for dressier day wear that are fairly common in kilt jackets are navy blue, hunter green, charcoal grey, etc.

The ubiquetous Prince Charlie coatee is really the Highland equivalent of a dinner jacket, suitable for black tie evening affairs where a tuxedo might be worn; but there are so many other styles of doublets that can be worn for either black tie or white tie occassions, that the Prince Charlie isn't really a necessity since it isn't suitable for full dress occassions, where a Regulation doublet, a Sheriffmuir, Montrose or Kenmore doublet would serve equally well and give a better appearance. For ultra full dress, these styles of doublets could be made in either black or colored velvet, or tartan cut on the bias (diagonally).

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

With all the talk recently about what jacket is "this" and what to wear "there". I started wondering, What about wearing jackets of different material than the kilt?
So what say you Kilt Fashion Aficionado

Both Ted Crocker and I are aficiondos of kilt jackets made from corduroy. There is a great picture of him, kilted with corduroy, linked to most of his posts. Check it out.

I'm also a big fan of duck and linen kilt jackets, especially now that I live in the hot (and sometimes humid) South.

[Carolina Kiltman]

All the above is good advice. I currently have only one kilt that I can wear. (The one that was made for me in 1949, has shrunk in the closet. (I am saving it for a grandson who is built like I was at that age -- bean pole!)

My tartan is mostly red, with green, light blue and yellow overcheck. I have three jackets, one Braemer, which does double duty as dressy morning/day wear with a solid colour four-in-hand tie. Sometimes with a vest (5 button)., "Semi-formal" (tuxedo) with a Prince Charlie style of vest and black bow tie.

A converted sport jacket in a light, plain weave navy blue wool with pewter buttons, and a black polyester twill "Ike Jacket" converted from a western style short jacket.

My next kilt is going to be the "old sett" of my clan which is mostly blue with a red and yellow overcheck. The three jackets will go well with it too. IMHO, colour is far more important than fabric in this case.

As mentioned before, just make sure the jackets are a reasonable fit before trying to modify them into kilt jackets.