What is going on here?

[Benning Boy]

I wear white-ish hose some what regularly. I follow Steve Ashton's advice: wear matching hose and shirt then put on any kilt of any sett and you will look presetable. So, when wearing a white shirt -- pilot shirt -- it's white hose . However, my white hose are actually German socks to wear with lederhosen. They are just a bit off white and flecked with brown. They aren't stark white. I doubt very much I'd ever wear white hose when in a coat and tie. Here on xmarks I've learned so much about being a well dressed kiltoid I see so many opportunities to work with colors I might never have considered before. White just pales in comparison.

[OC Richard]

wear matching hose and shirt

Never heard that idea before. It's certainly contrary to tradition, and couldn't have existed until the 1980s as far as white hose and shirt are concerned.

By that yardstick everyone would have worn tartan or diced shirts from the beginnings of known Highland Dress up until selfcoloured hose appears in the Victorian period. Victorian "day" hose were grey or brown and they certainly weren't matching those hose colours with their shirts then (the shirts being white).

It's my opinion that hose needn't match anything else in the outfit, indeed are better that way, the exception being full tartan hose for evening dress.

Now, what one would sometimes see, in 20th century traditional Highland Dress, is a pale blue shirt possibly worn with Lovat Blue hose or St Andrews blue hose, both in the range of blues it is true, but not matching.

I like to see my shirt/necktie and hose/flashes each set up their own attractive colour-pairing, say with a warm/cool juxtaposition. It's not something I think about consciously except when posting on this site; rather it's what I tend to grab out of the closet.

So last weekend at a Games I wore taupe hose with St Andrews Blue flashes (a nod to the London Scottish perhaps) and a Tattersall shirt with a navy blue necktie.