Hat for a Prince Charlie Outfit... not Balmoral or Gelngary

[Father Bill]

What about a bobble hat or a balaclava ?

Mmmm. May....be not.

[OC Richard]

Thing is, the environment of Evening Dress is indoors at a formal function, when men traditionally don't wear hats of any sort, whether they are in Highland Dress or ordinary European dress. This being the case, there is no 'traditional' headdress for a Prince Charlie. (Setting aside the question of whether or not the Prince Charlie itself can be considered traditional.)

But... pipers have, for a very long time, tended to wear Evening Dress (in whole or in part) outdoors during the day, and these pipers will wear either a Balmoral or a Glengarry with their Evening-like attire.

From the mid-19th century up through the early 20th the most common formal kilt jacket was the 'doublet' and both Glengarries and Balmorals were often worn with it. The Prince Charlie has supplanted the Doublet, mostly.

Here's a Glengarry worn with a velvet Doublet (this photo taken, of course, before the invention of the Prince Charlie)



Now here we are in the mid-20th century, two pipers, one wearing a Prince Charlie, the other a Doublet, both wearing formal shirts and ties and footwear and Balmorals, obviously outdoors and during the day. Note the complete contrast in the dress between the pipers and non-pipers (who are in ordinary Day Dress)