Civilian Spats

[CMcG]

In the 21st century, spats in the kilted world seem to be mostly confined to uniforms for some pipers or Highland regiments. Something like this:


At some point in the past, however, it appears that civilians did occasionally wear lower cut (4-6 button) spats. I think I recall Jock Scot saying older members of his family may have done this?

The few of images I've been able to find are for daywear outfits. Does anyone have other historical images of civilian kilties wearing spats? Can anyone comment about this practice in terms of when, where, why, who, etc?

Sir Harry Lauder




The Marquis of Breadalbane


This one is a more modern picture but has a retro look:




I know there are also a few members of the rabble who wear gaiters to protect their hose while hiking or out of personal preference... their comments and/or pictures are welcome too

[The Thirsty Viking]

This one is a more modern picture but has a retro look:

The man in this picture is actually wearing a moccasin similar to the ones seen at Renn Faire, that are colored like spats over shoes. They are not, in fact, spats. If you look closely, you can see they are made of leather, have antler buttons, and that the seams match up, and the lowest lace actually attaches to the black heel.

As far as modern spat/gaiters... i wear these almost daily:


My Girlfriend made them for me and I simply love the look of them. I dont like kilt hose, and only wear them for special occasions, so these made a good alternative, imo. The only thing I would change is the lace up nature, as it takes a good while to get them done up.

[CMcG]

The man in this picture is actually wearing a moccasin similar to the ones seen at Renn Faire, that are colored like spats over shoes. They are not, in fact, spats. If you look closely, you can see they are made of leather, have antler buttons, and that the seams match up, and the lowest lace actually attaches to the black heel.

<snip>

Right you are! They tricked me because the photo was labeled as "spats" although I see now that some people seem to think that means "two tone shoes."

Also, thanks Thirsty Viking for posting the pic of your gaiters


Here is a closeup of the boots in question, which at a distance fooled me into thinking there was a cloth accessory covering them:

[Ryan Ross]

My Girlfriend made them for me and I simply love the look of them. I dont like kilt hose, and only wear them for special occasions, so these made a good alternative, imo. The only thing I would change is the lace up nature, as it takes a good while to get them done up.

When I saw those a while back, I thought they looked pretty sharp, Zac... but I had no earthly idea where one might find such a thing! Everything makes sense now. ith:

P.S. Does she love you enough to make you another pair? In black, or even khaki, maybe?

P.P.S. That all assumes that you don't already have another pair or two, of course.

[chrisupyonder]

If I wore them in Scotland people would ask "where are you playing and where's the rest of the band". Not likely that I ever will wear them but they do look smart.

Chris.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Spats (or gaiters as they used to be referred to) were an ordinary item of everyday dress, kilted or otherwise, before WWI (1914-1918). After the war they still remained in vogue, especially among the upper-middle and upper classes. As modes of dress became less formal fewer gentlemen wore gaiters and by the end of WWII (1945) only elderly gentlemen would be seen in gaiters.

Loudon McQueen Douglas in his book, THE KILT (published in 1914), when describing proper day dress, has this to say about gaiters:

"Footwear should consist of thick soled brogues with gaiters to match the stockings."

C.R.MacKinnon of Dunakin, writing in 1960, makes no mention whatsoever of gaiters, which clearly indicates that by that date "spats" were probably relegated to the costume of music hall comedians.

[Tobus]

I know there are also a few members of the rabble who wear gaiters to protect their hose while hiking or out of personal preference... their comments and/or pictures are welcome too

Since you asked...



Those are WWII US Army leggings. They are great for hiking. You can find shorter ones that were produced later in the war that would look more like traditional spats. I don't know that I would wear them for regular daywear, but I think they would be great for more outdoorsy activities.

I usually only wear these when hiking in my Utilikilt. But I'm switching over to traditional kilts for hiking and will get pics of the gaiters with a tartan kilt sometime soon.

[AKScott]

I wear gaiters while hunting in the field, and while out in fresh (unpacked) snow.

I absolutely agree with commentary to date, gaiters are quite time consuming to put on.

I checked the mudroom, the pic is one winter boot with the gaiter still on it, undone enough to undress.

The zipper is in one leg of quilted arctic weight Carhartt overalls. Notice with two pulls these can be unzipped up from the ankle to tie the bootlace; and unzipped fronm the hip down to not overheat when coming indoors only briefly from the cold.

Also pictured is a wool liner sock, an expedition weight outer sock and a packet of toe warmers. Typically I would be wearing at least one layer of long underwear and a pair of pants under the coveralls as well.

Assuming I already have all the long underwear and all the socks on, with the toe warmers starting to heat up, the clock is ticking. If I don't get outdoors quickly enough I'll start sweating and having water against skin at -20F and below is bad. Very bad. No pressure, but here are the steps.

Pull the overalls up to the waist, and sit down. Sleeves later.

Unzip the pant legs from the cuff towards the knee.

Slip on one boot. Lace it the way you want to wear it all day, because coming back to here is going to be a project.

With the boot laced up, pull down the blue jean or wool pants.

Then zip the coverall leg back down to the cuff.

Pull the gaiter up over the coverall leg.

Fold a pleat into the coverall leg.

Zip up the gaiter.

Adjust the top gaiter strap length (it varies with how many layers under the coveralls) tuck the free end inside the gaiter and then buckle.

Perform yoga to tighten the strap that runs under the boot sole.

Repeat for other leg.

Unzip from hips down to top of gaiter.

Shrug into sleeves, zip up front.

Don scarf, hat, coat, gloves.

Zip the legs back closed.

Get outdoors (without forgetting anything like cell phone) before you overheat.



I deal with gaiters pretty much daily for four months of the year every year. Commuting back and forth between my house and my job not so much. Unless we got fresh snow last night.

They do two things for me. When it blows up here, it blows hard. Making the ankle end of the trousers wind tight makes being outdoors bearable instead of miserable. On deep enough unpacked snow, without gaiters, every step pumps a little more snow a little bit further up the trouser leg. On a long enough walk the snow melts against the bare skin on my calf, and then my watertight boots start filling with very cold water.

I will opine the 4 and 6 button spats pictured would probably help, in very dusty environments to keep dust from getting inside my shoes. I am also willing to wager that however hot your feet were in that environment without spats, they would be noticeably hotter with spats.

I know some of you guys can carry off the looks already pictured here very well. This thread has reminded me that I need to take the gaiters off my winter boots so the elastic doesn't get exhausted over the summer; and that is about all the fooling with gaiters I am going to sign up for this summer.

EDIT: in autmn gaiters are quite handy for keeping mosquitos from crawling up inside your trousers when out in tall grass for extended periods.

[Tobus]

CMcG, can you tell me who made those boots with the white tops? I really like them. They are nice and chunky, but with a brogue-like and spat-like appearance. Very unique!

[CMcG]

CMcG, can you tell me who made those boots with the white tops? I really like them. They are nice and chunky, but with a brogue-like and spat-like appearance. Very unique!

Sure thing. They are from Earth Island Footwear/Turtle Island Moccasins and are listed as:

"USMC Mess Dress Spats
Cream Bull Hide with Black toes & heels
on Red underlay & piping
with 5 Antler buttons & Gumlite Cushion Soles"

Link:
http://www.turtleislandmoccs.com/cal...moccasins.html

I was just checking out their site and it's all custom shoemaking. They are a bit pricey but come with up to a 15 year warranty and call be resoled. Apparently they also offer a range of pedorthic adjustments to their shoes.