Hose color?

[opositive]

claret is my go to color, followed by lovat blue--either goes with just about everything.

[OC Richard]

I'm going to post a couple photos which (I hope) will demonstrate something that's clearly seen in person, and that's the way that mid-grey hose can suck much of the colour out of some tartans.

Here are the Roxburgh District kilts worn by a local band, Kevin Blandford Memorial, worn with white hose, black jacket, and black & white sporran. For quite a few years it was a fad in pipe bands to have everything (or nearly everything) in the outfit either black or white.



the same kilt worn with mid-grey hose and sporran



To my eye anyhow, the first picture shows the lively green/blue area in the tartan to good effect, while that area is rather dulled in the second photo.

Thing is, both images were taken from the same group photo! So that we can't blame the vagaries of photography.

It's even clearer in this photo the same kilt worn with grey hose, sporran, and jacket. Believe it or not, the blue and green area of that kilt has quite vivid colours... I've seen it in person many times.



Now for another example, my band.

Here's our kilt, Drummond of Perth (muted range from House of Edgar) worn with the now-faddish all-black look. The colours in the tartan are somewhat vibrant though these kilts have seen much use and are a bit faded



Now the same kilts with the grey hose and shirts we wore a couple years ago. Believe me, in person the dulling effect is just as strong as this photo makes it appear.



The same effect can be seen on the far left of this photo... note how the green & blue area of his Royal Stewart kilt has turned to a dull grey to match the hose.



The same effect, but even stronger, can happen if the hose are the same colour as one of the main "background" colours of the kilt. Note how the seafoam green hose (second from left) and greyish/lovat blue hose (third from left) suck those colours out of the kilts in the photo above, a powerful effect which greatly diminishes the beauty of those kilts. Claret hose would have been a huge improvement with either outfit.

Tartan hose as you can see are neutral.