Vestes écossaises

Three broad types. Single breasted blazers cut like a suit jacket, which are the most formal. Unstructured casual jackets with soft shoulders and patch pockets. And heavier outerwear cut to layer over a knit. All three use the same woven cloth, so the choice is about how structured you want the shoulder to be.

Purpose and length. A Highland jacket such as an Argyll or a Prince Charlie is cut short to finish at the kilt waistband and is worn with a kilt. A tartan jacket is an ordinary jacket length, worn with trousers, and the tartan is in the jacket rather than the kilt. See kilt jackets and vests for the Highland cuts.

In a muted sett, no. Weathered, hunting and grey based colourways read as a dark check unless someone is standing close, which makes them about as conspicuous as a tweed jacket. Bright modern colourways are genuinely loud and better saved for events. Choose the sett according to how often you actually intend to wear it.

One pattern only, so everything else stays solid. A white or plain shirt, trousers in a colour pulled from the darker tones of the sett, and plain leather shoes. If you want a tie, make it solid. A tartan waistcoat under a tartan jacket works only in the identical sett, and even then it is a lot.

Like any jacket, but with less margin for error, because a sett makes pulling at the button and gaping at the lapel obvious. Have the chest measured over a shirt, not a jumper, and send shoulder and sleeve as well. Sleeve should show around half an inch of shirt cuff when the arms hang.

Premium acrylic woven to the sett, which holds a pressed line through a long day and keeps colour under sunlight far better than heavier traditional cloth. Because the pattern is woven rather than printed, the sett matches correctly across the shoulder seams and the lapel roll rather than distorting at the fold.