The matching of Kilts and accessories.

[super8mm]

I have some questions about Kilts and such

Should all the leather in the outfit be of the same color? Like kilt straps, chain straps on sporran chain, and shoes?

Should a Fly Plaid be the same weight as the kilt? I will have to have what I want woven.

What sort of Head gear is best worn with a Prince Charlie, if any?

Is it proper for the stone in a plaid broach to be of similar colors, like ancient Lamont with emerald stone or is it better for them to be contrasting?

Thanks

[unixken]

Others will doubtless be more authoritative than I, but here's my take on the questions. YMMV.

I wouldn't wear black shoes with a brown belt when wearing pants, therefore I would not mis-match the color of my leather items when kilted. I'd (generally) go with brown only for day/casual wear, and black for everything else, though black also looks fine when casual. When in doubt, I'd choose black.

The fly plaid should be the same tartan as the kilt. Although they are separate items, their use together is meant to mimic the great kilt, which was a one-piece affair in which the same piece of fabric was worn around the waist with the remainder draped over the shoulder. I would consider going with perhaps a lighter weight wool for the plaid if I could (for example, a 13 oz plaid perhaps, worn with a 16 oz kilt), but I would want to ensure that the same mill produced both pieces of cloth, and any difference in sett size was minimal. Again, the intent is to mimic the look that the plaid and the kilt are of the same piece of cloth.

I think the Glengarry hat looks best with a Prince Charlie, with or without dicing (my personal preference is for without, but that's just me.) The Glengarry has a sharp military look that appeals to me. However, like any hat, it should be removed when indoors.

As for the brooch, I would want any stone to match one of the colors in my tartan, though I'm just as likely to wear a pewter clan badge brooch that lacks a stone of any color.

[Father Bill]

A lot of folks here have frequently opined that the matching of leather is not an issue. A fly plaid (on the very few occasions that you might wear one) should not only be the same tartan, but ideally from the same bolt of cloth as the kilt. If you can't do that, then don't wear one. They're largely an over-formal affectation anyway. As far as the stone, I wouldn't worry too awfully much. The general opinion from our Scots experts is that "matchy-matchy" is more ofa north-American affectation than a highland one.

I for one only wear headgear if I'm protecting myself from the sun.

Hope that helps!

[Downunder Kilt]

No1 The Prince Charlie is an evening wear/black tie formal garment. If you have ever been to a black tie/ formal evening event, have you ever seen the gentlemen wearing hats, in my experience, no. Even if you were at a formal outdoor wedding, I think a glengarry hat is something that pushes highland attire into the costume arena, unless you are a piper at the function

No2 I don't like fly plaids so I offer no advice, same goes for plaid brooches

No3 I wear brown leathers during the day and at times black leathers, apart from shoes which are always black leather (unless I am wearing hiking boots) Waistbelts, unless I am wearing a waistcoat, matches the colour of the sporran and sporran belt

Try not to get into the matchy, matchy attitude, think outside what you have been told since childhood regarding that some colours only go with certain other colours.

All the best with your kilting experience

[OC Richard]

About leather, in the traditional Highland Dress which has come down to us from the early 20th century, "day" sporrans (and their straps) have been brown, footwear black. Dirk belts usually black.

This goes way back... Lord Duffus in 1700



Here you see in old catalogues (from three different firms) from the 1930s brown "day" sporrans and black shoes







Yet a fourth firm from the 1930s... all "day" sporrans are brown



Here is You Know Who keeping with this tradition

[mookien]

There are no "correct" answers to any of the questions you pose, only individual opinions, a few of which have already been proffered. Ultimately, as you gain experience your own personal preferences will emerge through observation and trial and error.

Some of the items you mention, eg PC, plaid, broach, are usually associated with more formal/traditional Scottish attire. Assuming that your are planning for a more traditional look, then my personal, subjective opinions are as follows:

Leather items do not have to match, but I usually wear the same color. Ideally, the plaid matches the kilt tartan in weight and color, but that is not essential. I have seen some nice-looking plaids in which even the sett size did not match. If you have your kilt and plaid made from the same run of cloth, everything will match by default.

I do not wear a bonnet with my PC and can't recall ever seeing head wear on someone with a PC, ... which almost guarantees someone out there will be a contrarian.

I don't have stones in my plaid brooch, just a large central hole through which the underlying tartan is visible, but I seem to be in a distinct minority in that regard.

Good luck and keep consulting the forum and asking questions.

[gary meakin]

Refering to that same picture

I used to think all your leather had to match but if the Duke of Rothesay can wear black and brown then who am I to say differently?

[super8mm]

Thanks everyone, I am just trying to make sure I dont offend the fashion police

I am going to get all my dress stuff while I have the money, I am going with 15 oz kilt and I will see how much more they want to do the plad with the kilt, if it is more than I can bear I will have to get a lighter one.

[Mikilt]

I don't have many super-formal occasions, so I don't even have a Prince Charlie. I do have a couple of tweed jackets that I have converted for day wear and semi-casual evening wear. For the fly plaid, I don't have one. I can always dress to proper formality without one. To my eye, they look overdone. I also don't have brown shoes, so my black ones are worn both day sporran and evening sporran. I try to match the sporran belt and the sporran, but that might be just me.

As always, YMMV

[OC Richard]

I should stress that in all the Highland Dress catalogues I have, from the 1920s through 1940s, all daywear sporrans are brown, all shoes are black. So at that time black shoes and brown sporrans were standard, for Day Dress. When I got into kiltwearing in the 1970s it seemed to be the same situation, in all the photos of men in Highland Dress I saw in books, album covers, etc. I remember it looking odd to me, the first time I saw a black Day sporran, and the first time I saw brown ghillies. (I'm not saying that such didn't exist, but only that I had only seen brown Day sporrans and black ghillies, in the hundreds of examples I had seen.)

About hats with Prince Charlies, there can be no "traditional" sort of hat, strictly speaking, because the Prince Charlie (or "coatee" as it was originally called) isn't traditional, but is an early 20th century invention.

Before that, from at least the mid 19th century up to the introduction of all the new Evening jacket styles in the early 20th century (Prince Charlie, Montrose, Kenmore), the standard formal Highland jacket was the doublet, and both Glengarries and Balmorals were wore more or less equally with it.

Here are two civilian pipers performing in 1945, one wearing a doublet (what nowadays we call the Regulation doublet) and one wearing a Prince Charlie, both with Balmorals



Now Prince Charlies weren't around in 1860 when this photo was taken, but this fellow is wearing some sort of formal jacket, what appears to be similar to a military Mess Dress jacket, with a Glengarry