All black: a safe choice?

[OC Richard]

Coming from the Pipe Band scene, the all-black look is very popular now.

In the 1990s a trend swept through the Pipe Band scene, to make everything in the kit except the kilt itself either black or white.

Nearly all good competition bands worldwide went with black Glengarries, black Argyll jackets, black sporrans, and black bagcovers. Very often the neckties and flashes would be black as well. The hose and shirts were pure stark white.

I have a video of the World Pipe Band Championships from the 90s in which every single Grade One band is so dressed. (There was relative variey however in the drone cords: half the bands used black, half used white! And a couple bands took the daring step of wearing two-coloured mingled cords... black AND white!)

But in the last couple years a huge anti-white hose movement has taken place with most bands switching to black (or in some cases extremely dark blue or grey).

Many pipers for their solo kit are wearing all black: hose, flashes, sporran, jacket, shirt, necktie, and glengarry. Many are getting black kilts as well, plain black, "Black Isle" (a black-on-black tartan), and so forth.

I don't care for this trend, as it flies in the face of the traditional Highland love of colour and pattern.

Be bold in your choices of colour! Choose hose and shirt that don't match the kilt! It's the old Highland way.

My usual kilt is Isle of Skye. My favourite combination to wear with it is Burgundy hose and a royal blue shirt (neither colour appears in the tartan). It's precisely because those colours aren't in the kilt, and that they are bold colours, that the overall outfit looks so good.

[Piipriker]

OT

... And a couple bands took the daring step of wearing two-coloured mingled cords... black AND white!) ...

reminds me of the Blues Brothers movie
"Which kind of music do you usually play here?"
"Oh, we have both. Country AND Western!"