smart not smart

[Manself]

I've been invited to Hogmanay in a grand Scottish country house. While the hostess has asked her guests to change for dinner she stipulates that we shouldn't wear dinner jackets ("smart but not black tie").

What should I wear? I don't like to wear tweed jackets in the evening and lounge suits feel very odd in the country. I guess the "answer" is to wear a velvet jacket with an open-neck shirt (the subject of a recent article in the FT's How To Spend It magazine) but I don't like this as an outfit. What trousers would you wear with a velvet jacket? Jeans?!

All thoughts welcome!

[Concordia]

Suit or a blazer equivalent, I would think. If it's a grand enough house, it will have seen a dark lounge suit at least once before.

[alden]

Scotland, country, evening, eclectic, not tux...

5536876491_fcdd28ea6e_o by The London Lounge, on Flickr

A stunning Donegal tweed suit

(white shirt, dark blue silk knit tie, white linen hanky, dark brown brogues or even better black cap toes...)

I know you have its twin

Cheers

[Manself]

I certainly do! One day we'll have to wear them together!

[alden]

It's a wondrous suit because of the wondrous talent of its maker and the wondrous cloth. I have worn mine in the evening to great effect. At a distance you might think it is a silk evening suit, but it ain't!

Cheers

[alden]

In any case, a velour coat sans tie is a capital offense, ten years in levenworth or twenty in woolworth kind of a thing. Duck soap!

Dark gray suit, white shirt, black knit tie, white linen hanky, black cap toes, sunglasses, olive oil in your hair.....Mastroianni them!

Cheers

[whyescalar]

Wear a tie. You can always take it off.

[davidhuh]

Scotland, country, evening, eclectic, not tux...

5536876491_fcdd28ea6e_o by The London Lounge, on Flickr

A stunning Donegal tweed suit

(white shirt, dark blue silk knit tie, white linen hanky, dark brown brogues or even better black cap toes...)

I know you have its twin

Cheers

Dear Michael, excellent recommendation - could we add this cloth to a future subscription? This is a gem...

Cheers, David

[alden]

Dear Michael, excellent recommendation - could we add this cloth to a future subscription? This is a gem...

It was actually a test I did years ago. There was just enough cloth for two suits. And another LL member took one length and I the other. I suggested the following experiment: the two of us would have suits made up in the same cloth, same design, same cut by the same tailor, a very gifted and experienced man who had served us both for years. The idea was that when the suits were completed we would have pictures taken of us together wearing them. My bet was that the two suits would appear very different. Same cloth, same tailor, same cut, different look because we, the men wearing the suits, create the look not the cloth, tailor or suits. It was an experiment designed to demonstrate the incontrovertible fact that the man makes the clothes.

Well the suits were made but the photos were never taken. Alas and Alack...who knows, maybe someday they will be.

I any case, it is a dashing, no compromises suit. The cloth is light to mid grey with lots of blue in it...a classic English gray. The mottling you see, the nubs, the streaking in the cloth is dark blue against the gray. Worn with the right blue tie, it just sparkles.

Well you gather I like it pretty well. But its not for everybody. The best things rarely are.

Cheers

[hectorm]

I've been invited to Hogmanay in a grand Scottish country house. While the hostess has asked her guests to change for dinner she stipulates that we shouldn't wear dinner jackets ("smart but not black tie").
What should I wear?

Earlier this year I spent two weeks in Scotland bagging Munros. We set camp at Inverlochy Castle and every evening, after all day of hiking in technical gear, we dressed up in "smart" attire for the public rooms and then dinner. In my case I wore the only suit I took on the trip (an agonizing decision: a dark grey heavier herringbone tweed) with neckties, white shirt, and black cap toes. Not far from Michael's advice. Although Hogmanay might require a little more of formality than tweed.
Edit: actually, I did not take cap toes on this trip, but EG Dovers.

[uppercase]

Great suit!! Really beautiful.
The side by side experiment would have been great.