Kilts and Flat Caps

[Rob Ritchie]

I would like to throw my flat cap in the ring, on this subject:

I have been wearing a flat cap lately, with my kilt. I am a safety patrolman on a regional park trail. I wear a kilt daily. The Balmoral's I own are just too much..... a baseball cap looks (in my opinion) as bad as if I were wearing a cowboy hat with a kilt... when trying on a old fashioned style, flat cap, and looking in the mirror, it looked great to my eye.
Then I read all the comments about whether it is apropos or not?!??!?! It shouldn't matter, but it bothered me that some kilt snobs might frown upon it, if I wear it amongst other kilt wearers....so, I did some research. Here's what I found. Scotsmen have been wearing this combination since at least mid nineteenth century! I have found numerous early photographs, proving this!
I was also watching a YouTube videos the other day, where two different Scotsmen were demonstrating how to fold and wear a great kilt. I believe one was even filmed at Edinburgh Castle.....Guess what both Scotsmen were wearing? You guessed it.....a kilt with a flat cap!
Yesterday, I went to the Scottish Games, in Pleasanton, California....there were almost as many kilt wearers, wearing this combination as there were wearing traditional balmorals and Glengarry's !
so to you kilt snobs, I say GET OVER YOURSELVES and enjoy diversity!

[ThistleDown]

Interesting first post, Rob. There are folks who wear baseball caps/tractor caps with kilts and you say that doesn't look right to you. Others wear cowboy boots and that probably doesn't strike a favourable bell with you, either. For some of us the soft cap doesn't go well with Highland wear, but whatever turns you on. Let's just be sure that this thread is only about opinion and not about confrontation.

[slothead]

Rob,
It is not clear to me what you mean by a "flat cap." Is the cap that Ern is wearing in this photo what you are talking about?

[GrainReaper]

I believe he is referring to a newsboy cap, or Ivy cap, I've heard it called a bunnet (sp?) before as well, am I correct that this is the cap being referred to?

[Tarheel]

I believe he is referring to a newsboy cap, or Ivy cap, am I correct that this is the cap being referred to?

I gather that this is the cap referred to.
Though I like this cap (as a life long hat/cap wearer) when it gets wet the front tends to sag forward due to weight of water. Unlike other caps, flipping the bill around to face my back just doesn't match my style, even if it prevents dripping down my collar. However if I had a 1962 Jaguar XKE convertible, this would be my hat of choice with any kilt.

[GrainReaper]

I have many ivy caps like the one above, some tweed, some solid colored wool, some cotton, I've a waxed cotton one that is fantastic in rain, my quilt-lined Harris tweed wool cap with the hidden ear flaps is my snowstorm hat of choice if hitting the town.

Though I rarely wear one anymore with my kilts I do find them a much better look on me overall than most any other styles of headgear.

[ForresterModern]

Nothing wrong with a flat cap and a kilt, no matter what any man might say (where is Jock Scot when you need him?) as long as you are on the west side of the Atlantic. Would definitely get more than a few looks in Scotland (first hand knowledge) but no one would think to tell you to your face. For traditional scots the hat is fine (albeit a touch more british than scottish), just not with the kilt.

Okay, now time for me to duck and take cover. I think I here Jock's shotgun being loaded.

[Jock Scot]

Nothing wrong with a flat cap and a kilt, no matter what any man might say (where is Jock Scot when you need him?) as long as you are on the west side of the Atlantic. Would definitely get more than a few looks in Scotland (first hand knowledge) but no one would think to tell you to your face. For traditional scots the hat is fine (albeit a touch more british than scottish), just not with the kilt.

Okay, now time for me to duck and take cover. I think I here Jock's shotgun being loaded.

Worry not Jeff, I have shot off enough cartridges today to start a minor war, so enough is enough! Same again tomorrow!

However, I think that you have explained the traditional thoughts on the "flat cap and the kilt in Scotland" situation very fairly.

[OC Richard]

Thing is, Highland Dress has always, as far as we know, had its own style of hat, the "Scotch bonnet" as the English called it. We call it a "Balmoral bonnet" nowadays.

Here are people at the Oban games. The people in Highland Dress are wearing bonnets



Yes any sort of non-Highland hat or cap can be worn with Highland Dress! And there's no law against it, just tradition.

Various tweed hats traditionally worn in British non-Highland dress do look more fitting than, say, Cowboy hats or what have you. And back in the late 19th and early 20th century it wasn't all that uncommon to wear flat caps Deerstalkers etc with Highland Dress (at least with the aristocracy)



Here note that the aristocratic party are wearing deerstalkers while the ostensibly native attendants are wearing bonnets



This is interesting in that a fellow in breeches is shown wearing a Scots bonnet while the fellow in kilts is wearing a flat cap



I've taken to wearing the hat variously called trilby, Elgin, etc due to it giving sun protection and looking more fitting (to me) than the Tilley hat I'd been wearing

[Richrail]

and my son's university graduation