Last Christmas, my mother-in-law gave me a pair of kilt hose. She didn't know I had a kilt; she thought they were a "down-payment" for when I actually got one. Not quite joke gift, but not entirely serious either.

They are, of course, white.

We'll be spending some time with them around New Year's, and I plan to be kilted at least some of the time (Dunedin, FL seems an appropriate place to do that, don't you think?) I feel like I should wear the hose she gave me at some point; my mother always made sure that, as kids, we wore gifted items in the presence of the gifter, and I guess it stuck.

So, is there anything I can do to either tone them down, or otherwise soften their effect? I have one kilt (in the German Heritage tartan; see profile photo), and not much else that's kilt-specific in my wardrobe. I tend to wear it in casual-ish environments with just a polo shirt, a solid-colored button-down long sleeve shirt, or a solid-colored sweater. I have both black and brown leathers.

At the risk of being too "matchy" I wondered if I wore a white shirt if it would help - the hose wouldn't be the only white piece of the ensemble, and so maybe wouldn't stand out quite so much. Every other combination I can think of would leave the white hose popping out kind of garishly.

Any and all advice or comments are more than welcome.