What kind of Jacket/Waistcoat needed?

[OC Richard]

And I would stay away from black hose, as well. IMHO they just don't look "right" with the kilt. There are many nice colours you can choose from. What's "fashion" today will be old news in no time. Stick with the classics.

No solid colored/self-coloured hose are classic, in the sense that traditionally in Highland dress hose were always patterned, either in a pattern we call "diced" or in some sort of simplified tartan.

Cream/offwhite hose are definately not "classic" but themselves are a relatively recent innovation, one I don't really care for.

About black hose, the first time I saw a pipe band wearing them I didn't like it at all! All their legs, with the black hose and shoes, from a distance, looked like burnt twigs sticking out from under their kilts. And, the distinctive look of the Ghillie brogues was lost. The lighter the hose, the better the Ghillies show up, which is one reason I think pure white hose have been so popular with pipe bands over the last decade or so. With black hose the bands might as well just wear ordinary shoes.

But... at the 2008 World Pipe Band Championships the Spirit of Scotland pipe band showed up beautifully kitted out with their Isle Of Skye kilts and black hose...and now more and more bands are following suit. White and black are no-brainers for bands because they go with any tartan.



I should add that I actually didn't say that I liked black hose in my earlier post; I just observed that they're becoming very popular now. Fashion changes; cream hose are out of fashion and black hose are in fashion. Fashion has nothing to do with any inherent or objective superiority or inferiority, it's just fashion.