"Viking Style" Brouge lacing?

[Ivor]

I have to admit to being puzzled by just why the way someone chooses to tie the laces on their shoes should become a matter of contention. Nobody comments on how you tie your necktie so why should the exact position of shoe laces attract comment?

[Macman]

Ivor, if you tied your necktie around the top of your neck and not around your shirt collar, that might attract comment.

[MacKenzie]

Or wore your kilt with the pleats in the front.

[Jock Scot]

Having worn the kilt, fairly regularly, for more than a decade or five I feel that I have some input in offering some advice to anyone who is interested. However, having never once in that time have I ever worn ghillie brogues I am unable to comment on the “mechanics” on how they are worn. The only observation that I can offer and some may not find this helpful but, for what it is worth, I would prefer that ghillie brogues should be avoided at all costs.

[Jock Scot]

I have to admit to being puzzled by just why the way someone chooses to tie the laces on their shoes should become a matter of contention. Nobody comments on how you tie your necktie so why should the exact position of shoe laces attract comment?

Oh I am not so sure about that. I recall more than a few posts on this website discussing the merits, or not, of the Windsor knot for neck ties.:lol

[Silmakhor]

Having tried "Viking Style," I can confirm it doesn't work. The laces don't stay put and look a mess within 20 minutes.

My worst experience with brogues though came during a piping competition. Specifically a quartet competition. I love those because they were not as high stakes as solo or band contests. Musically they were fun because you function as an ensemble but can still hear each player and feed off of each other.

Anyway, this highland games was somewhere in Mississippi. We start playing our set and I feel very sharp, unpleasant sensations coming from my lower legs. It turns out that I was standing on a nest of fire ants. They swarmed over my brogues and into my hose and starting attacking during the competition. So I couldn't deal with the problem. Not fun.

[EagleJCS]

Anyway, this highland games was somewhere in Mississippi. We start playing our set and I feel very sharp, unpleasant sensations coming from my lower legs. It turns out that I was standing on a nest of fire ants. They swarmed over my brogues and into my hose and starting attacking during the competition. So I couldn't deal with the problem. Not fun.

OUCH! That sounds worse than the cicadas - one of the 17-year broods - that invaded the Glasgow (KY) Highland Games a few years ago. They were just a nuisance for the most part, only occasionally drowning out the pipe bands with their noise, but causing some major tune-by-ear issues. The pitch they were 'singing' at was just a few cents flat of the average pitch for most of the bands and soloists on the day.

Only a few pipers and drummers had any issues with them actually landing and/or crawling on them, though one of the pipers in my band (Louisville Pipe Band) came face-to-face with a cicada that landed on her pipe bag just below the blowstick.


Regarding the OP's topic: When I first laced up my first pair of brogues, I must admit I went high with the lacing. They make the laces long for a reason, right? After trying to walk around with them that high, paying a little more attention to others' laces, and doing some reading (before I found this site), I realized I was wrong and started tying them off just above my ankle-bone.

[OC Richard]

Nobody comments on how you tie your necktie...

Oh there's a large amount of commentary on the tying of neckties out there!

Magazine articles and YouTube videos galore. (These are some tie-specific ones, most of the tie commentary is on videos about men's clothing in general.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEA96aV2f6E&t=90s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU9zLY421Mg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktI_0xZ_x94

[Ivor]

I’m not sure that tying laces up the calves of my legs would be the most comfortable thing and probably leave red welts afterwards so I can see a practical reason why not. So is there actually just this aspect or is it more to do with being the arbiter of all things kilt-related. I did think that Scottish dress was a free form to an extent but then rigid rules and circumspect views seen here seem to contradict this. As a non-wearer this is only confusing but as someone aspiring to it this seems not only confusing but perhaps even threatening.

[Tobus]

I did think that Scottish dress was a free form to an extent but then rigid rules and circumspect views seen here seem to contradict this. As a non-wearer this is only confusing but as someone aspiring to it this seems not only confusing but perhaps even threatening.

This seems to come up often in discussions about wearing all things kilt-related. And I should note that we are having this discussion in the context of the "Putting It On Properly" forum, with the key word being "proper".

This idea that Scottish dress is a "free form" of dress is a bit of a misinterpretation of a well-known quote. It is true, to some extent, that it lacks many of the same rigid conventions as other forms of dress in other cultures. And it is true that there are no kilt police who will detain you for lacing your ghillie brogues too high or wearing the pleats in the front. But there is no form of cultural dress in the world that is free of tradition or norms that made it what it is. Any form of cultural garb will look "right" when worn properly, and "wrong" when not worn properly. Figuring out what constitutes "proper" is, of course, what these discussions are all about. Who determines what is proper? The people who wear it traditionally, having grown up immersed in the culture. There will be a range of opinions to be sure. Some of us seek those opinions, while others may not care.

One can choose to follow their advice to wear it properly. One can also choose to ignore their advice and wear it however they want, but it would be a mistake to think that this would go without some measure of judgment or mild disapproval by those who see it worn foolishly. There is nothing threatening about it, though. The worst one might encounter is a polite correction under the assumption that the wearer simply didn't know he was doing it improperly.