Choice of Three Sporrans

[imbrius]

I considered a military-style day sporran but TBH, I like the leather details and tassels of #2. I've never truly been a fan of the purely utilitarian minimalism of such a piece, though I can certainly see its appeal: the kilt is already quite a thing of its own, why add more distraction and movement to it?

But I'm going with #2. Thanks, all!

[OC Richard]

Just now seeing this thread.

I'm a traditional sporran guy.

I find it interesting how often I see Americans in traditional Highland Dress (traditional kilt, kilt jacket, kilt hose, bonnet) but wearing a non-traditional sporran, a sporran style recently invented here in the USA.

So only the centre sporran of the OP is a traditional Scottish man's sporran style.

The lower sporran is a child's or youth's style.

The top sporran looks like furniture to me, with hardware I've previously only seen on dressers.

Modern leather "day" sporrans appeared around 1900. Here's a selection from the 1920s. They were only made in brown. Note that the smaller youth sporrans have two tassels, the adult sporrans three. There's no goofy hardware stuck on them, only a press button to close the flap (often hidden)



Personally I wear a plain brown Day sporran, probably from c1960, I picked up cheaply on Ebay.



This thread has tips on finding quality vintage sporrans for very little money http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...s-money-93109/

One often sees Day sporrans with fur fronts. They're not "semi-dress" but ordinary Day sporrans.

Here's a lovely traditional mid-20th century Day sporran with seal front and the traditional stud closure



Another traditional Day style is the Hunting sporran. In the old days they were always brown.

[imbrius]

Since it looks like the sporran is going to arrive before the kilt, I have some time to work on it.

Here's the picture from the vendor:


I have a pair of brown derby shoes with a finish more like this (photo of similar shoe on sale from J.C. Penny) that I'd like to wear:
DP0511201717035641M.jpeg

My gut feeling is that I ought to try and polish the sporran a bit to try and get the leather a bit redder and shinier (I do see the pebble texture). But I also know that Highland dress doesn't always follow my gut feeling on things.

What would the Rabble here do?

[Tobus]

It's a personal choice to be sure, although there's nothing wrong with wearing them as-is. They're far enough apart that the differences in colour shouldn't be a big deal. I wear a dark brown sporran with cordovan shoes and don't think twice about it. I also wear a more reddish brown belt right next to a dark brown sporran, and it hasn't upset the space-time continuum yet. I would also recommend comparing the sporran and shoes in different lighting scenarios before deciding what to do.

If you do decide to alter the sporran's colour to more closely match the shoes, I personally wouldn't go with a polish per se. There are various creams or leather products that can help to change the colour, but without making them overly shiny. Sporrans aren't traditionally supposed to be shined like shoes, and they're not likely to stay polished long as they're worn and used anyway. So a low-gloss cream polish might be as far as I would take it, and not a lot of final buffing to raise a shine. But that's just my take on it.

[Tarheel]

I'm with Tobus on using a cream rather than a dye for the sporran. A matte finish on the bag and gloss on the shoes would look great to me. The "pebbled" texture of the sporran would be harder to buff to a gloss and naturally beckons a "work-a-day" look.

[gsmacleod]

Since it looks like the sporran is going to arrive before the kilt, I have some time to work on it.

Here's the picture from the vendor:


I have a pair of brown derby shoes with a finish more like this (photo of similar shoe on sale from J.C. Penny) that I'd like to wear:
DP0511201717035641M.jpeg

My gut feeling is that I ought to try and polish the sporran a bit to try and get the leather a bit redder and shinier (I do see the pebble texture). But I also know that Highland dress doesn't always follow my gut feeling on things.

What would the Rabble here do?

I wouldn't worry about the browns; although with pants I try to match belt to shoes (mostly), with the kilt I just aim for leathers to be brown or black. I still haven't gotten to the point where I mix brown and black leathers but I don't worry about different shades of brown.

Shane