Even in the Hebrides

[Nathan]

Here are a couple of photos from a Facebook friend of mine from Uist. These photos are from 28 years ago and were taken in the Highlands. I assume it was a wedding, but I don't know for sure as his facebook comments didn't say.

As you can see, even in the home of the kilt, there are those who wear ecru hose, ghillie brogues and waitbelts and waistcoats at the same time. Whether you appreciate the aesthetic or not, I think this is good evidence that such fashion choices are not the exclusive domain of those "outwith the Scottish Highlands".

[creagdhubh]

As you can see, even in the home of the kilt, there are those who wear ecru hose, ghillie brogues and waitbelts and waistcoats at the same time. Whether you appreciate the aesthetic or not, I think this is good evidence that such fashion choices are not the exclusive domain of those "outwith the Scottish Highlands".

Quite right and I couldn't agree more. Thanks for sharing the photos - I'm only 3 years older than them!

Cheers,

[Jock Scot]

Yes it was about that time when the kilt began to be worn more generally for weddings in Scotland and I suppose in consequence, new thinking on what might be worn on the "big day" arrived. I cannot say that the thinking in general was based on fact and was led more by what the hire companies dictated than anything else and with little regard of the traditional. Still there we go.

[creagdhubh]

Yes it was about that time when the kilt began to be worn more generally for weddings in Scotland and I suppose in consequence, new thinking on what might be worn on the "big day" arrived. I cannot say that the thinking in general was based on fact and was led more by what the hire companies dictated than anything else and with little regard of the traditional. Still there we go.

Good point there, Jock.

[Nathan]

Yes it was about that time when the kilt began to be worn more generally for weddings in Scotland and I suppose in consequence, new thinking on what might be worn on the "big day" arrived. I cannot say that the thinking in general was based on fact and was led more by what the hire companies dictated than anything else and with little regard of the traditional. Still there we go.

That had crossed my mind, but I did note that not all the tuxedo shirts matched and that they weren't all wearing the same kilt, two tell-tale signs of rental rigs. There is also a fair diversity among the sporrans. Maybe I'll send him a note on fb and ask if they hired their kit or owned it.

Either way, this is a family of Gaelic speakers who are from the Highlands and Islands and who are connected to the traditional music scene. I think it would be safe to say that they had exposure to how the kilt is worn is Scotland.

Unless there's a particular kilting aesthetic that is peculiar to a certain class or demographic of landed gentry and estate owners that the common rabble just doesn't understand...

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I wonder what the point is you are trying to prove? I'm not meaning to say as an accusation. Just an observation. If all you want to do is to demonstrate that native Scots who wear the kilt in Scotland sometimes wear white and/or ecru hose and make fashion faux pas such as wearing a waist belt and a waistcoat at the same time, I don't think that point was in question. One can find plenty of evidence of this simply by doing a Google search, browsing the web pages of Highland dress suppliers, or walking down the streets of Edinburgh.

I don't think I have ever heard it said that wearing ecru hose is "something Americans do" that "is never done in Scotland." People who don't like ecru hose generally hold that opinion for aesthetic reasons. They just don't like the way they look as much as other colors. And I know plenty of people with that opinion within and without Scotland.

Wearing a waist belt (or dirk belt) with a waistcoat is something that has become more and more common over time, and I chalk it up to the decline in knowledge of formal dress in general among most people. But if you go back and look at older examples I doubt you will find this done very often, if at all. I don't think being in Scotland or Canada, or Boston, or Australia would have anything to do with it.

Scotland is the home of Highland Dress, yes. And those of us outside of Scotland look to her still to inform us as to the genuine traditions of kilt wearing. But there is still a lot of room for personal tastes and preferences, and we have to realize that just because one person -- or a lot of people -- in Scotland wear their kilt a certain way that does not necessarily mean that we will want to do the same.

No doubt there are plenty of people in Scotland who wear ecru hose and waist belts with their waistcoats. And I don't doubt there are plenty of people in Scotland who would never do either of those things. And there are plenty of people in North America who hold both of those opinions, as well. After all, we get the same Highland Dress catalogs, we look at the same web sites, etc. This is one case where I just don't think geography has much to do with it.

[Phil]

As you can see, even in the home of the kilt, there are those who wear ecru hose, ghillie brogues and waitbelts and waistcoats at the same time. Whether you appreciate the aesthetic or not, I think this is good evidence that such fashion choices are not the exclusive domain of those "outwith the Scottish Highlands".

You don't need to go back 28 years to experience this style of dress at a Scottish wedding. Any wedding in any Scottish town nowadays will see the majority of kilted guests dressed in exactly this way. I don't really think that the majority of Scots give a moments thought to the niceties of Highland dress in the way that it is examined, criticised and pontificated about in a Forum such as this.

[creagdhubh]

You don't need to go back 28 years to experience this style of dress at a Scottish wedding. Any wedding in any Scottish town nowadays will see the majority of kilted guests dressed in exactly this way. I don't really think that the majority of Scots give a moments thought to the niceties of Highland dress in the way that it is examined, criticised and pontificated about in a Forum such as this.

Good point, Phil.

[OC Richard]

That was the norm back in the 70s and 80s, offwhite hose with Prince Charlies.

Then in the 90s pure white hose became popular.

Nowadays black hose and coloured hose are seen as often (or more often) as white hose. Just styles changing, I suppose.

Here are some of the world's top Scottish pipers gathered in Glasgow a couple years back.

[Carlo]

The point I get is, that if Nathan is right and that the pictures were taken before Hire-Shops started to market off-white hose, many here would have to change their opinion about the Hire-Shops as a bad influence for starting that fashion.

Then I have no idea since my first time in Scotland was more than 10 years after the pictures were taken and I didn't pay any attention towards such details back then.