Hose to go with Isle of Skye tartan kilt.

[Jimmy the Celt]

Thank you for sharing the pictures! I really like the blue and brown, and claret is a nice look too. Mayhaps one or two of each is needed.

I should have the IoS in about three weeks; my first wool kilt. I went for Lochcarron over House of Edgar.

[OC Richard]

I went for Lochcarron over House of Edgar.

It would be interesting to see the two side-by-side, to see what subtle differences there are.

With Spirit Of Scotland one mill (I can't remember which) makes the pairs of light blue stripes rather lighter than other mills. I prefer that look.

[OC Richard]

Thank you for sharing the pictures!

You're very welcome!

[Jimmy the Celt]

I should have written Marton Mills rather than House of Edgar. I am not sure how but I seem to have got it in my head that Lochcarron is a better choice than Marton. It may be from reading something here on X Marks a decade ago, but I believe the two top mills are Loch and HoE, though I am very smitten with D. C. Dalgliesh use of traditional Wilson's colours. I hope that Matt Newsome will be taking orders soon, as I would really like a 16 oz. (Original 1746) Culloden 5 yard. It is a lovely tartan with personal meaning.

House of Cheviot looks to have expanded their range with some beautiful colour combinations. Decisions, decisions!

[pbutts]

This is one of the best posts I've seen here.

Richard, I always appreciate it when you articulate your artistic sense. This would be a great thread along the lines of the "Ten Looks.." post with other examples of representative tartans and different hose choices.

Maybe one tartan with a red ground, one with blue, one with green, etc.

I love my IOS kilt! It's my go-to kilt, I wear it all the time. (Lochcarron 16oz, 1" pleats, around 7 yards.)

With any tartan kilt, the hose options are more or less:

1) matching tartan or diced hose

2) selfcoloured hose that match one of the main ground-colours of the tartan

3) selfcoloured hose that match few or none of the colours in the tartan; such hose can co-ordinate, or contrast

4) selfcoloured hose lacking colour (white, black, grey)

If #3 is done well it can actually amplify one or more of the colours in the tartan.

#2 can drain the colour in question out of the tartan, making the tartan dull.

#1 and # 4 neither add to nor detract from the colour harmony of the overall kit.

I usually prefer #3.

Here's my IOS with claret hose. There's no red or claret in the tartan.



Another pic with these hose.



I really like the way that red and blue of various shades go with IOS so well.

Those hose finally wore out! Nowadays I usually wear these Cheviot "ancient blue" hose. No blue in IOS, which is why it works so well, I think.



Here, in isolation, you can see how the blue hose somehow amplify the purple in the kilt.



Note the very different appearance the tartan has with the claret hose. The claret amplifies the brown in the tartan.



The effect is created by the colour-shift between the hose colour and the colour in the tartan which is NOT the same, but similar enough to resonate.

These mid-grey hose don't seem to have any deleterious effect with IOS; with some tartans these hose are deadly, sucking out much of the colour and making the tartan look dull.

[OC Richard]

Thanks!

Now, some will say I'm "thinking too hard" about this sort of thing, but that's not how it is. It's an immediate visual (non-verbal) sensation, but due to Art School training an awareness of the why of it comes nearly simultaneously in some cases, much later in others.

It other words it doesn't start with a theory or intellectual construct, but with a purely visual sensory response to colours. Figuring out the reason for the sensation, and being able to verbalise it, comes from training.