Made to measure hose.

[Alloteuthis]

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking around for a while picking up advice and information, but now I've got a question.

I am getting married in July and want to get some coloured hose to match my tweed jacket. In the past I've got my hose custom knitted as my calves are too large for off the peg hose (22"). Unfortunately the company I used to use have gone bust, and I'm struggling to find a replacement that isn't charging me tartan hose prices for single coloured hose.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I'm UK based, but would consider international options if they're priced affordably.

Thanks in advance!

[Liam]

Welcome to the forum! I’m sure someone here will be able to advise who can custom make large kilt hose for you.

[Jock Scot]

Just something for you to consider, before committing yourself to the expense of custom hose. Do you really want matching colours with your hose and jacket? What you wear for your happy event is entirely your choice, but it is not usual that hose colours match the jacket. Also, remember that you will be looking at your wedding day photographs for years to come and those hose may come back and haunt you.

[Tomo]

I have a few pairs of hand knit hose from Anne Stewart Knitwear - http://www.annestewartknitwear.com/kilt_hose.html or https://www.facebook.com/stewartknits

I have always found Anne a pleasure to deal with and the socks to be fantastic quality - and a great price - I think the last pair I got were about £45 - pretty much the same price as off the shelf HoC.

i tend to go with diced cuffs - but they also do plain knits - and they ship worldwide.

[Alloteuthis]

I have a few pairs of hand knit hose from Anne Stewart Knitwear - http://www.annestewartknitwear.com/kilt_hose.html or https://www.facebook.com/stewartknits

I have always found Anne a pleasure to deal with and the socks to be fantastic quality - and a great price - I think the last pair I got were about £45 - pretty much the same price as off the shelf HoC.

i tend to go with diced cuffs - but they also do plain knits - and they ship worldwide.

This is fantastic, thanks a lot.

I'll definitely get in contact and hopefully get something worked out.

[OC Richard]

Do you really want matching colours with your hose and jacket?

...it is not usual that hose colours match the jacket.

Jock brings up an interesting shift that's occurred in Highland Dress over the last 40 or 50 years.

From the mid-19th century up through the 1960s it was standard practice to choose hose-colours that would "tone with" the tweed of the jacket.

Writers on Highland Dress often stress that this is "the thing to do", and colour photos and paintings show it over and over.

Here catalogues from the 1930s show this.



But that's a catalogue! The things that appear in catalogues have no relation to what people wore, you say.

Well, they do. Here, around 1960, the gent on the left is Lovat + Lovat and the gent on the right is tan + tan, exactly as appears in the catalogues 30 years prior.



The question is, when and why did this century-long tradition stop being followed?

As best I can see, the thing that put the kybosh on the traditional "tone with" coloured Day hose was the sudden and immense popularity of the hand-knit natural-colour "Aran" hose which occurred in the 1970s.

As you see the idea of toning the hose with the tweed of the jacket suddenly went out the window.



Now jackets are jackets and hose are hose and seldom do the twain meet, though the "tone with" idea is far from dead, and is still seen from time to time (note the 3rd gent in the front rank wearing Lovat + Lovat).



If you have a few pair of hose it's not difficult to put together these "tone with" outfits. Here, 3 of the 4 are such. Many people would pair charcoal hose with the charcoal jacket, in my case I don't have any charcoal hose at the moment.

[OC Richard]

Now I'll take off my historian hat and put on my artist hat.

Tradition aside, and looking at gent's Highland Dress from the design and colour standpoints, there are three things to note:

1) a gent's Highland outfit has three more-or-less equally-sized bands of colour stacked one atop the other:

Jacket
Kilt
Hose

Matching all three robs the outfit of any potential of colour interest.

Matching two of the three robs the outfit of half of its potential colour-interest.

2) white, black, and the entire spectrum of greys between are non-colours and can neither detract, nor add to, the colour-interest of the outfit.

Making one of the three colour-bands white, black or grey, from a colour standpoint, is nearly the same as having two of the colour-bands match.

Making two of the three colour-bands white, black, or grey, from a colour standpoint, is nearly the same as having all three of the colour-bands match.

3) having the jacket or the hose match one of the tartan's main ground-colours robs the outfit of around half its colour-potential. Having both the jacket and hose match one or both of the tartan's main ground-colours robs the outfit of nearly all its colour-potential.

To demonstrate, on the left is the jacket and hose of different colours, however the jacket's green matches much of the tartan (which surprisingly contains three different greens) while the blue hose coordinate nicely with the tartan due to the tartan containing no blue.

On the right the claret hose coordinates nicely with the tartan due to the tartan containing no red of any sort, while the grey jacket does nothing to help the overall look.

[Tobus]

Another option for custom-made, plain-coloured hose is Sally Pointer.

https://www.sallypointer.com/product...kilt-stockings

I have two pair from her, although this was from about 4 years ago. She has scaled back the business due to a death, but apparently still does take orders on a smaller scale (and in distinct batches). It's worth asking; she may have lots of options for colours and styles. You'll just need to allow plenty of time.

I chose plain stockinette-stitch knit solid-colour hose with plain cuffs. You can customise the size/length. Here I was looking for a style that just barely covered my calves. These are very well made hose, and cheaper than the usual House of Cheviot styles.