Kilt Hose colour advice?

[Steve Ashton]

What are the colors of the rest of your outfit?


I usually do not try to match my hose to my kilt. I may pay attention to, and try to pull out one of the smaller colors of the Tartan, but in general I prefer to coordinate my hose and my shirt. This gives you many more options.

I also don't try to match colors exactly. I only try to coordinate colors. Blues go with other blues grays, and blacks well. Browns go with reds yellows and greens well. But Blue and Green also go well with each other. (just look at a tree against the sky)

What I find, and try to get others to think about, is the overall colors of the whole outfit. A Charcoal Tweed jacket goes well with Charcoal Hose. Thinking like this frees you up for a lot more creativity.

The Tartan of the kilt is very good at standing on its own. If you think about it, if you go to a wedding, you will see all the guys in the same jacket, shirt, tie and hose. But each will be wearing their own kilt. And it looks great.

So don't get too picky with hose color thinking that you must match your kilt.

[Manxstralian]

What are the colors of the rest of your outfit?


I usually do not try to match my hose to my kilt. I may pay attention to, and try to pull out one of the smaller colors of the Tartan, but in general I prefer to coordinate my hose and my shirt. This gives you many more options.

I also don't try to match colors exactly. I only try to coordinate colors. Blues go with other blues grays, and blacks well. Browns go with reds yellows and greens well. But Blue and Green also go well with each other. (just look at a tree against the sky)

What I find, and try to get others to think about, is the overall colors of the whole outfit. A Charcoal Tweed jacket goes well with Charcoal Hose. Thinking like this frees you up for a lot more creativity.

The Tartan of the kilt is very good at standing on its own. If you think about it, if you go to a wedding, you will see all the guys in the same jacket, shirt, tie and hose. But each will be wearing their own kilt. And it looks great.

So don't get too picky with hose color thinking that you must match your kilt.

Thanks Steve!
My only jacket is charcoal tweed (at the moment), I have an emerald green waistcoat, and I am looking around for a russet tweed one. I have burgundy hose, and navy, and some light grey. I was thinking of brick/tartan red, bison, and mustard as a starting point, but thought I'd get the advice of the rabble.

EDIT: And these are the hose!

Cheers,

Cameron

[Sir Didymous]

I think if you were to pair the brick red with a red tie (not matching per-say), it would look nice with the kilt and the charcoal jacket. Throw on a pair of blue flashes and I think it would all tie in nicely. Just my two cents.

[sailortats]

Your Manx kilt has many of the same or similar colors as my Nova Scotia tartan. Here is what I paired with it the first time out. I think the mustard go very well with it as it picks up the yellow stripe in the kilt.
Nova Scotia-Balclutha.JPG

[BCAC]

I would say red, Cameron, but you would have to look around and try several to find the shade of red that you like best with the blue of you kilt.

[ForresterModern]

Personally I go with Steve's idea although I do try to pull something from the kilt tartan, sometimes more than others. For example I like my pumpkin colored hose with my orange background Dutch Friendship tartan kilt which many would find matchy matchy, but then I only use other small orangish accents elsewhere like in my tie. Your very blue predominant kilt, two different shades of blue (plus the third where they cross) make up a large percentage of the rather simple pattern of the Manx blue, but I still might consider pulling out a medium blue more on the lighter side, something like St Andrews blue or an ancient blue rather than lovatt, although it would still work. Black or dark charcoal (my favorite over pure black) would pull the hidden black out of the tartan, as that part of the tartan almost looks more like shading than a freestanding color. If you are looking for contrast mustard would be great, but you have to be the kind of person who feels comfortable in that shade----one that is not really in my repertoire----it will pull out the yellow stripe without being too "lemony".
Remember that you are not stuck with the simple thread colors in the tartan , but the additional colors that are generated where the basic tartan thread colors cross to make even more shades than what the threadcount would indicate. For example, my family tartan Forrester Modern (misnamed as it actually uses ancient family thread colors rather than the modern family thread colors) has an antique blue, antique green and medium claret as the dominant colors with overlay triplet stripes of white and yellow. If you look at the tartan though there are innumerable color combinations hidden in the tartan with the many crossovers---- purples, reddish browns, teal, other shades of burgundy all are hidden behind the main colors-not to mention the ones added by the triplet stripes--brighter and different greens and even oranges where the yellow crosses the main colors, lighter colored blue and red and green where the white crosses the main colors (although these triplet stripes lighten the already middling background colors of the main stripes of the tartan---lighter colored hose are often harder to wear than darker with the kilt). The rainbow becomes endless and so many more colors can look OK if not outright great with that tartan.

Yours being simpler means more matchy matchy colors, variants of the existing dominant colors, the "flank" accent colors (yellow or white---don't go there) or going out side the palette of colors in the kilt and let the kilt stand on its own and do as Steve says match other parts of your outfit rather than the tartan. But if you are only wearing a white polo shirt with the kilt (and maybe a bonnet) I would tend to stick with something drawn from or close to a color in the tartan---my preference would be the medium blues or charcoal I mentioned.

[artificer]

in that range I'd pick (in descending order)

Autumn Glow


Mink


And then Forest


But I tend not to match my hose to my kilt
ith: