Escaping the Black Argyll

[OC Richard]

I started band competitions probably in 1988 or so.

I am just getting back into highland wear and kilts, and the one thing I will avoid is the black Argyll/white hose/glengarry look. For one thing, I went over to the dark side and now play Irish music primarily, so the pipe band look would not fit at all for gigging. And, in my mind that look is regimented and devoid of creativity.

I feel validated by this thread.

Ah, so you got into the competition pipe band thing at the very time that black Argyll + black Glengarry + black Ghillies + white hose look was getting its firm grip on the world's bands.

My perspective is a mere decade longer, around 1976, before that look appeared. Bands then, who up until recently had been wearing Full Dress or Evening Dress in competition, were experimenting with various more-comfortable options.

For us, like many 70's bands, it was the offwhite handknit Aran hose, brown corduroy vests, and Balmoral bonnets. Ghillies weren't yet a thing, a 1970's photo of our band shows only one person wearing them, the rest in ordinary shoes.

A popular look at the time was wearing Prince Charlies with long ties, various types of sporrans, and the aforementioned hose.

I too went to the Irish side, taking up uilleann pipes in the late 1970s and ever since having one foot in the Irish pub session scene and one foot in the Highland pipe band competition scene. Of course Irish uilleann pipers wouldn't dream of wearing a kilt.

Anyhow here's a recent escape the Black Argyll performance, for Veterans' Day on Friday