fashion at World Championships 2016

[OC Richard]

As someone who has spent just shy of 40 years in the Pipe Band scene, I've seen the evolution not only of the technology and style of music but also in the style of dress.

Yesterday was the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, and like so many pipe band people the world over, if we weren't there in person we were watching the BBC live streaming. Our band like so many others had a Worlds Viewing Party.

I'm always interested in how bands dress. Back when I started bands either wore Full Dress, with feather bonnets and all, or Evening Dress, with Prince Charlies, tartan hose, buckled shoes, and all.

Then beginning around 1980 all the bands dumped that stuff and went to a simpler, more comfortable, and far less expensive dress, the Argyll jacket/ghillies/white hose/glengarry/hunting sporran/glengarry look which was the standard for decades.

Now things have changed a bit. Dark hose have replaced white hose and waistcoats have replaced jackets.

Yesterday there were 12 bands in the Grade One Finals. They were from Scotland, Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland, Canada, and New Zealand.

I took screen shots (sorry for the image quality) so that we could take a look at how the bands dressed.

Starting with the Scottish bands, here is Inveraray & District. They had an incredible meteoric rise from a group of kid beginners to Grade One.

As you see they combine a mid-grey waistcoat with a grey seal Evening sporran. I really like the juxtaposition of the royal blue bag-covers with the grey tweed, much more striking in person. Like every other Grade One Finalist they wore Glengarries, waistcoats, no jackets, longsleeved shirts, ghillies, and dark hose. They wear a nice soft Ancient green/blue tartan as you see.



The only other band to wear seal Evening sporrans was another Scottish band, Shotts & Dykehead. They've been a top band for a half-century at least. Note the lovely tartan in Weathered Colours. They, and most pipe bands the world over, wear black Barathea waistcoats with silver square buttons, the sort you would wear with an Argyll jacket.





Scottish Power wear a lovely seafoam-green tartan and elaborate sporrans by Grant of Edinburgh (who make sporrans with clan crests, US military emblems, etc)



Here's one of several lefthanded pipers there yesterday, and a better view of the tartan and the sporran. Note the Royal Stewart drone cords, having colours alien to the rest of the uniform.



The crowd favourite perhaps was Spirit Of Scotland, which is not a fulltime pipe band, but something of a concept band, being a collection of the world's top solo players who don't play in bands who got together a few years ago as a one-off to play at the Worlds, in kit from Hire Shops. (That iteration wore Isle Of Skye.)

This time out they're wearing Spirit Of Scotland tartan, which is subtle and lovely but as you can see isn't an ideal band tartan. Band tartans are seen en masse and at distance and work better with bold colours and patterns. Here the kilts don't really appear to be tartan at all. On the right is Gordon Walker, one of the world's top pipers and widely viewed as the best-dressed piper.



You have to get closer to see the lovely subtle colours of Spirit Of Scotland. They were the only band of the 12 Finalists to wear leather Day sporrans.



How their kilts were pleated. No subtlety in the colours of the drums!



Now to finish off the Scottish bands, here are the two Scottish Police bands who made the Finals.

First is Greater Glasgow Police. This band has a long and brilliant history, their name changing with every restructuring of the Police force. For decades they were Glasgow Police, then Strathclyde Police, now Greater Glasgow Police. In piping circles they're simply known as 'police'. Note that Police bands in Scotland do not wear police uniforms, but are dressed the same as the other bands.

Their St Andrews Blue hose made them stand out from the dull black, charcoal, and navy hose of the other bands. Their waiscoats, I think, are navy blue tweed. Surprising that only now do we encounter a band wearing the black Hunting sporran with chrome top, which as become the standard sporran for bands and pipers the world over.



Our last Scottish band will be Police Scotland Fife. Their kilts had a strange wrinkly look on screen, I don't know if they were actually wrinkled or it was something else going on.

[OC Richard]

Now for the non-Scottish bands.

First is Field Marshal Montgomery from Northern Ireland. They wear a bespoke tartan.



A real standout in appearance is Saint Lawrence O'Toole, from Eire, with their selfcoloured green kilts. They have elegant badges, cut out of sheet metal and engraved, which they wear both on their Glengarries and on their sporrans. Their sporrans are the sort long called "Highland Brigade" sporrans in Scotland due to their military use. However in the army the badge is placed on the body of the sporran, not on the flap as SLOT does. I love their claret bag-covers, a contrast to all the other bands who wear black or navy blue covers. Their drone cords are Lindsay tartan.



SLOT has a piper who plays his pipes with reversed hands, though his pipes are on the left shoulder as usual. I personally don't care for the silver neckties SLOT wears. You can see their charcoal grey waistcoats.



Now to Canadian bands!

Here is many-time World Champions Simon Fraser University. Note the interesting colours of their bespoke tartan. For many years they wore Fraser in Ancient Colours, giving an overall pastel look. Then they had a run of the same tartan woven but switched the blue to the dark blue used in Modern Colours. Tartan expert Peter MacDonald has said that this gives a look seen in some early tartans. They're the only band of the 12 to wear hose like that, with the Argyll cuffs.



Here you can see how their kilts are pleated



Here are the 78th Fraser Highlanders. I believe this is the first band we've seen here who wear their kilts pleated to the tartan. Note the navy blue waistcoats, and the nice closeup view of the typical pipe band sporran. This was the only band of the 12 Grade One Finalists to wear a plain necktie. Their drone cords are odd, a blend of dark blue and green with a mustard/copper colour.



Now for the furthest-travelled bands, the New Zealand bands!

Here is New Zealand Police. Their tartan is interesting, I don't know what it might be.



Here's a better shot where you can see that they're wearing police shirts with sleeve-patches and epaulettes but with the standard civilian pipe band waistcoats worn over them. This looks a bit odd to me.



Last up is Manawatu (which I am told is pronounced MAN-a-wa-TU.)

They've worn these strange sporrans for years. I assume they're locally made. Note the big dents or dimples on the face of the sporrans. Their tartan is Clan Cameron in Weathered Colours and their kilts are pleated to the tartan. The kilts are an odd combination with their military Cameron Highlanders cap badges.

[kiltedcontractor]

Richard, Thank you for this post. Your depth of knowledge and eye for detail is amazing. You truly educate people like myself with your insite.

[OC Richard]

You're welcome!

I should add the results:

Final table, combining the results from the Medley contest and the March, Strathspey, and Reel contest

1) Field Marshal Montgomery
2) Inveraray & District
3) Saint Lawrence O'Toole
4) Shotts & Dykehead
5) Scottish Power
6) Police Scotland Fife
7) Simon Fraser University
8) Spirit Of Scotland
9) Greater Glasgow Police
10) 78th Fraser Highlanders
11) Manawatu
12) New Zealand Police

Grade One bands that played in the qualifying heat but failed to advance to the finals

78th Fraser Highlanders (Halifax Citadel)
Bagad Cap Caval
Boghall & Bathgate
Bleary & District
Peel Regional Police
Ottawa Police
Ravara
Vale Of Atholl
Los Angeles Scottish