Irish accoutrements

[Mac Thréinfhir]

Being totally new to the kilt scene, i am having an issue accessorising my Irish Saffron kilt. My main issues concern my hose, flashes, and sporran.

1) Am i correct in thinking that black is the more correct colour of hose when wearing the Saffron?

2) What flashes should i wear with them, if any?
I've read somewhere that wearers like to match them with the tartan. Does that mean that i should look for saffron coloured flashes?

3) Is a sporran typically worn with the Saffron kilt? Specifically for formal events?

Im having a real problem determining answers to these questions, so any help is really appreciated, thanks!


Mac Thréinfhir

[Wareyin]

Being totally new to the kilt scene, i am having an issue accessorising my Irish Saffron kilt. My main issues concern my hose, flashes, and sporran.

1) Am i correct in thinking that black is the more correct colour of hose when wearing the Saffron?

2) What flashes should i wear with them, if any?
I've read somewhere that wearers like to match them with the tartan. Does that mean that i should look for saffron coloured flashes?

3) Is a sporran typically worn with the Saffron kilt? Specifically for formal events?

Im having a real problem determining answers to these questions, so any help is really appreciated, thanks!


Mac Thréinfhir

I'm also pretty new to kilt wearing, but I'll try to help.

1) I don't really know. For Highland wear, it seems many colors are acceptable, so I would guess the same for a saffron kilt. I'd avoid white or saffron, though. I struggle with seeing colors, but a quick google search turns up images of diced hose, mustard hose, and green hose all with the saffron kilt.

2) The rental shops tell us that flashes should match our tartans, and I have worn my Buchanan flashes a few times with my Buchanan. I'm getting away from that, though, and prefer either solid red garter ties or some yellow ones I'm having made. I think flashes are pretty much your choice, just don't mix tartans.

3) If the saffron kilt has no pockets, I'd think a sporran is necessary.

I realize that these aren't Irish specific answers, but I hope they help.

[OC Richard]

black is the more correct colour of hose when wearing Saffron?

The "Irish saffron kilt" is a modern creation, so there's really no "tradition" to fall back on; thus I don't think any colour is more correct than any other. So, I would be guided by aesthetics. I often see green, blue, and black hose worn with Saffron kilts.

I have read that the actual Saffron colour of ancient Irish garments was a light pure yellow, not the burnt-orange or yellow-brown seen in revival "Saffron" kilts.

What flashes should i wear with them, if any?

I would say any colour that looks good.

Is a sporran typically worn with the Saffron kilt? Specifically for formal events?

Being that kilts don't have pockets, a sporran would ordinarily be worn for practical reasons, at all times, I would think.

Here's the very image that inspired the late 19th century Irish Revivalists to create a "saffron kilt". They didn't realise that what they were seeing was the bottom of the shirt (leine in Irish). We all know now, but the horse has left the barn. In the Highlands of Scotland the kilt evolved after this period, not from the leine but from the brat or mantle, the purple thing the front man has draped over his arm.

[GrainReaper]

The "Irish saffron kilt" is a modern creation, so there's really no "tradition" to fall back on; thus I don't think any colour is more correct than any other. So, I would be guided by aesthetics. I often see green, blue, and black hose worn with Saffron kilts.

I have read that the actual Saffron colour of ancient Irish garments was a light pure yellow, not the burnt-orange or yellow-brown seen in revival "Saffron" kilts.

I would say any colour that looks good.



Being that kilts don't have pockets, a sporran would ordinarily be worn for practical reasons, at all times, I would think.

Here's the very image that inspired the late 19th century Irish Revivalists to create a "saffron kilt". They didn't realise that what they were seeing was the bottom of the shirt (leine in Irish). We all know now, but the horse has left the barn. In the Highlands of Scotland the kilt evolved after this period, not from the leine but from the brat or mantle, the purple thing the front man has draped over his arm.

You sir are a treasure trove of information, I always look forward to reading your posts!

[Wareyin]

I second GrainReaper: the information OC Richard provides in invaluable. The pictures are quite helpful to those of us who did not grow up where kilt wearing was common.

[OC Richard]

Thanks! It's cool that 40+ years of obsession about this stuff can be of use to somebody!

About Irish accoutrements, I saw this sporran on Ebay, which I think looks really cool, and you can't beat the price

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KILT-SPORRAN...cAAOSwD0lUkt7y

Here's the photo from the listing... I love the detail on that harp!



I think it's important to realise that traditional Goidelic costume was at one time a single stream, more or less, which existed both in Gaelic Scotland and in Ireland. The dress looked, as far as we know, the way it does in that illustration above. It consisted of a long shirt (often worn hitched up to the knee) usually dyed with saffron called leine, a short jacket called ionar, and a mantle (often called a rug or cloak by early observers) called brat, a colourful woven girdle crois, and moccasins pamputai.

But English incursions exterminated this traditional costume in Ireland. Only on the Aran islands did elements survive into modern times, the crios and the pamputai. It is thought that the brat evolved into a cloak in Ireland.

In the Highlands this ancient dress lived and thrived, however it became the fashion to wrap the mantle around the waist. This of course became the kilt in time. Heavy woolen socks (which aren't seen in ancient Irish dress AFAIK) became standard wear with this dress.

The late 19th century Irish Revivalists, seeking to return to their Goidelic roots, had to face the fact that traditional Irish costume had been extinct for several hundred years, so they looked to the old paintings. Seeing the skirtlike bottom of the saffron shirt they thought it a kilt by false analogy and incomplete understanding, and the Irish Saffron Kilt was born. It now has over a century of use.

[S.S.Muldoon]

The late 19th century Irish Revivalists, seeking to return to their Goidelic roots, had to face the fact that traditional Irish costume had been extinct for several hundred years, so they looked to the old paintings. Seeing the skirtlike bottom of the saffron shirt they thought it a kilt by false analogy and incomplete understanding, and the Irish Saffron Kilt was born

I don't believe this to be entirely true... It is my understanding that Douglas Hyde and the other founders of the Gaelic League were well aware that they were borrowing the kilt directly from the Highlanders, with whom the GL felt they had great cultural affinity. In the absence of a "Native Irish Dress" that would be recognizable in modern times, I believe they chose to try to adopt the most iconic piece of clothing associated with a modern Gaelic people.

I've heard lots of people of Irish heritage claim that the kilt was an old Irish garment, but I don't think the scholars that tried to popularize the modern Irish version of the kilt were laboring under that misconception.

[RectaPete]

Well, whatever the origin of the Irish kilt I want to see more Irish wearing them. Even if it's just for a wedding or a football match, wearing a kilt is distinctively "Celtic" and enhances national pride.

[OC Richard]

I don't believe this to be entirely true... It is my understanding that Douglas Hyde and the other founders of the Gaelic League were well aware that they were borrowing the kilt directly from the Highlanders, with whom the GL felt they had great cultural affinity. In the absence of a "Native Irish Dress" that would be recognizable in modern times, I believe they chose to try to adopt the most iconic piece of clothing associated with a modern Gaelic people.

For sure that's what ended up happening, the wearing of ordinary modern Scottish Highland kilts.

But if you see some of the early Irish Revival kilts, they don't look like Scottish kilts at all, but thin fabric skirts gathered or pleated all around, quite obviously derived from the bottom of the old saffron leine.

Note the big sleeves and gathers/pleats all around, the costume an attempt at recreating the look of the old images.



Here you can see the embroidery such as is seen on the ionair in the old images (though the originals weren't Celtic knotwork)