Pipers' dress v Highland Dress

[OC Richard]

Well I don't know if "versus" is quite the thought, but I was looking over some recent photos I've aquired of pipers and I thought it might be interesting to look over the way pipers have dressed over the last 150 years or so.

I've excluded military pipers and pipers dressed in quasi-military uniform.

There was an amazingly stable sort of dress worn by pipers from the mid 19th century up through the early decades of the 20th, consisting of Glengarry, doublet (that sort that's no longer around, with collar like an ordinary suit coat, but full flaps and cuffs), plaid, long hair sporran, tartan hose, and ghillies or buckled brogues.

Here it is in 1865:



Here are a number of piping/dancing competitors at Fort William in 1881 wearing this dress. At this time the same men usually competed both in piping and dancing, and often also in running and Gaelic singing.



Pipers, even when turned out in day tweed, would still wear Glengarries and long hair sporrans. I'm guessing this photo was taken around 1900:



The old black formal "doublet" evolved into the Regulation Doublet (with a change in collar style) and here are pipers dressed much as their forefathers, in 1945. Note the that piper on the left is wearing a Regulation doublet (called simply a "doublet" at that time) while the piper on the right is wearing the newer style the Prince Charlie coatee. Long hair sporrans still rule the day, though Glengarries have given way to Balmorals.



This Dewar's advert from 1946 shows a dress very little changed from the 1860s



But here are piping competitors at Oban in 1950. Note that the long hair sporrans have passed away and in the main these men are wearing ordinary Highland Day Dress (except of course for the Army men)



This has continued down to this day. Here is a recent photo of the Eagles Pipers' Society. The piper 2nd from right is wearing an evening fur sporran and black jacket, but the other pipers are in ordinary Day Dress:



Influenced by modern Pipe Band dress, it's most usual to see pipers nowadays in black Argyll jackets at any time of day or night, and often more formal sporrans as well. Here are some of the world's top pipers gathered for the Glenfiddich competition in 2008. Note that it's metal-topped sporrans, dark hose, and Glengarries all around, and all but the ever-distinctive Gordon Walker are in black Argylls:



Now here are two individual pipers showing the pipers' usual knack for dapper dress, the incomparable John Burgess



and Malcolm McRae

[OC Richard]

An interesting subset of pipers' dress is that of the Sovereign's Piper.

Here is Derek Potter showing the dress worn while in service in London. Note that one drone ribbon is Royal Stewart while the other appears to be Dress Stewart.



While serving at Balmoral Castle a different dress is worn. Note that, evidently, little effort was made to match the hose to the tartan. Also note the drone ribbon in Dress Stewart, also seen in the photo above. The jacket is interesting, being a coatee with Argyll cuffs. And a powder-horn is being worn. I believe that this might be Gordon Webster.




Now sometimes I come across pipers' dress which is simply odd.

Look at this old photo of some band (I think in the USA): civilian Day Dress from the waist up, military dress from the waist down.

[Tobus]

On service at Balmoral a different dress is worn. Note the hose: evidently no attempt was made to match the tartan.

I actually think the hose match the tartan very well. It's the same colours. Just a larger pattern that seems to visually clash with the subdued sett of the kilt. But I honestly don't know how else one would make Argyle hose match that tartan, so this was probably the best attempt at it.

Great pictures! I love looking at the little details.

For instance, in your last picture, I notice that they have their 'blanket pin' kilt pins upside-down from the way I understand they're usually worn.

[creagdhubh]

Lovely photos as always, Richard. I have been fond of Gordy's (P/M Gordon Walker) for many years now, and it is even better to see him in person - especially in his element, whilst he is piping. One may also note, Gordy is wearing is Glengarry bonnet at the correct height and size - very much a Regimental tradition. Sometimes, the bonnet is even cocked far to the right side of the head.

I recall hanging out with pipers, drummers, and dancers of The Royal Regiment of Scotland back in February 2010, when they were on tour and performed at The (fabulous) Fox Theatre in Saint Louis, Missouri (my hometown), after the show. Naturally, I wore Highland dress to the concert, complete with one of my Glengarry bonnets, and whilst we were all piled into a local pub in downtown Saint Louis, one of the Scots promptly repositioned my Glengarry to the far right side of my head, as I was originally wearing it straight on my head. We both laughed and quickly returned to our pints - true story, just ask my lovely wife, Stephanie and my aunt, Carolyn, they were there!

Cheers,

[Nick the DSM]

Wow, a great look into Piper's dress history.





Anyone else thinks the guy in the jeans playing the pipes looks silly??

[piperdbh]

Anyone else thinks the guy in the jeans playing the pipes looks silly??

Let's say he looks like a young kid who is trying to learn the ropes.

Richard, where do you get all these pictures? You must have a whole garage full of 'piper albums.

[CopperNGold]

Thanks for posting these, Richard. The photos tell the story clearly, but I always wonder what artistic license is used in the old portraits because the artists have to take into account proportion and balance. Could a jacket shoulder have been broadened or some detail tweaked to make the portrait as visually attractive as possible? Can any of the old portraits be taken as absolutely factual in terms of Highland dress? Thoughts?

Nonetheless, I go over these paintings in great detail. Such fine work!

[OC Richard]

Well I don't know about broadness of shoulder &c but if you look at the photo of the pipers in 1945 you'll see that the dress of the piper on the left is virtually identical to the dress seen in the advert from 1946.. and that's merely a bit of artwork done for advertising purposes. Yet the details of brogues, hose, sgian, sporran, jacket, etc are quite accurate.

When talking about old artwork it's important to keep in mind the original purpose/intention of the art. So, traditional portraits done of individual men usually have the details of dress captured quite accurately, because that was the very purpose of the art: to accurately depict a man and his dress at one specific moment in time.

On the other hand, if a painter's purpose was to capture the play of light and colour, say in the case of an impressionist artist, one wouldn't expect the details of dress to be painstakingly copied, as that was not the artist's intention.

But some people nowadays wrongly apply the same notions willy-nilly to all art, looking for "artistic licence" where none is to be found.

In any case it's why I usually post photos rather than paintings. People won't accept the painting, but will accept the photo, though they show exactly the same thing.

[creagdhubh]

Well I don't know about broadness of shoulder &c but if you look at the photo of the pipers in 1945 you'll see that the dress of the piper on the left is virtually identical to the dress seen in the advert from 1946.. and that's merely a bit of artwork done for advertising purposes. Yet the details of brogues, hose, sgian, sporran, jacket, etc are quite accurate.

When talking about old artwork it's important to keep in mind the original purpose/intention of the art. So, traditional portraits done of individual men usually have the details of dress captured quite accurately, because that was the very purpose of the art: to accurately depict a man and his dress at one specific moment in time.

On the other hand, if a painter's purpose was to capture the play of light and colour, say in the case of an impressionist artist, one wouldn't expect the details of dress to be painstakingly copied, as that was not the artist's intention.

But some people nowadays wrongly apply the same notions willy-nilly to all art, looking for "artistic licence" where none is to be found.

In any case it's why I usually post photos rather than paintings. People won't accept the painting, but will accept the photo, though they show exactly the same thing.

As a person with credentials in art and art history, I agree with this statement in regards to the paintings versus photographs. You sure do know your stuff, Richard...well done mate!

Cheers,

[RAF]

Great brief overview of Piper Dress history. Not a piper myself, but very much admire the effort these gents go through when done up well! I agree with Tobus that Mr. Websters hose pair nicely with his tartan. And to my (untrained) eye, Mr. Burgess' hose seems bit off with the rest of his ensemble, but wow what a look - very elegant!
I'm partial to the look of the long hair sporrans. If I've followed this photo trail correctly, it seems like they were once used by civilian pipers, but today the practice is that long hairs are worn by military pipers? If the pipers in the c.1900 photo were wearing spats, they would look like the (U.S.) men in the "odd" picture, no? Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing :-)