What level of dress would you classify this?

[Jock Scot]

Bobs Your Uncle.

Ghillie's, stalkers, estate staff were in the employ of wealthy men who, much like today in Scotland provide estate staff with clothing,---- Estate tweeds. Even today few could afford a three piece shooting suit that is provided for estate staff as part of their wages . If you look at the picture of Willie Duff you will see plainly a Crest on his sporran--I doubt very much the either was his! In fact, no it was not! It was his employers(the Duke of Atholl's if I am not mistaken) who could well afford to have his staff attired in a "cut above" the rest of the local population attire----its an estate pride and estate owners power thing. As I say it still happens today and is common estate practice.

Now, I have told this story a couple of times here before,so I won't repeat it in full. To cut a long and very illuminating story short, I had occasion to be in the presence of two men who were born in the 1870's/80's who saw paintings of "romantic" Scotland in an art gallery----they at first laughed and then they cried with intense anger at the lies that those pictures portrayed--------it was not the harsh, real, Scotland that they grew up in. I was born 70 years after them and even I can remember some pretty dire sights too.

So apart from estate staff being kitted out by their wealthy employers and in Cahoots with romantic artists with commercial romantic ideas, the life and attire of the common Highlander was nothing like the life and attire of those portrayed posing in the pictures.Sorry.