PIpe band returned to Balmoral bonnets

[OC Richard]

One of the topics in the pipe band world people were talking about in Scotland (at Perth and the Worlds) was the 78th Fraser Highlanders, a Grade One band from Canada, switching from Glengarries to Balmorals.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jk19st

In my band at least there was a split of opinion. What side you were on depended on how long you've been in the pipe band scene.

The people like me who started in pipe bands when everybody wore Balmorals loved the old-school look of the 78th Frasers.

The people like our Pipe Major who started in pipe bands when everybody wore Glengarries hated the Frasers' new look.

That's the thing: civilian pipe bands the world over jettisoned their Balmorals and Feather Bonnets in the 1980s (along with their tartan hose, buckled shoes, Prince Charlies, Montrose jackets, military style doublets, horsehair sporrans, spats, crossbelts, plaids, and all the rest) and by the 1990s all the bands who weren't living under a rock had adopted the new black Glengarry/black Argyll jacket/white hose/Ghillies look.

There have now been generations of pipe band people for whom that look is the only look pipe bands have ever had, and many believe that that's how pipe bands have always dressed. They don't realise how recent it is nor how innovative it was when it appeared.

Not that that outfit was new! There are Victorian photos of men, both pipers and non-pipers, wearing Glengarries, black Argyll jackets, and Ghillies. It's just that it never caught on as pipe band dress, not until around 1990.

In any case the 78th Frasers might be starting a trend. I asked my Pipe Major at the Worlds "over/under: 2.5 bands wearing Balmorals next year at the Worlds?" and he without hesitation said "under!"

My guess is "over".

We've already seen dozens of bands the world over switch from black Barathea with silver buttons to tweed with staghorn buttons for their waistcoats and jackets. White hose are long gone, and black hose are rapidly joining them in the (temporary) dustbin of history.

[Marshall]

I much prefer wearing the Balmoral bonnet. As for looks I like them both, but will more often than not choose the Balmoral.

[YOJiMBO20]

The current look started developing in the 90s? Dang. When I joined my band in 2005 we were still wearing PCs, tux shirts, bow ties, white hose, and balmorals. It took until 2007, I think, to abandon the PCs and move to short sleeve shirts with neckties (a horrid look!) and glens. And until the 2010s to move to the current pipe band look of argyll vests, and long sleeve shirts with neckties.

We stood out visually among the other bands, and not in a good way. The Frasers, on the other hand, stand out with their balmorals in a good way, probably because the rest of the uniform is still similar to everyone else.

[Troglodyte]

A fascinating observation.

On the subject of the Glengarry, I have always thought it a form of headwear that is much easier to wear 'properly' and so lends itself well to a uniform look readily. It seems quite difficult to get it wrong, save putting it on backwards.

The Balmoral, or tam, looks great (and, of course, has more antiquity) when nicely formed and 'cocked', but I regularly see otherwise splendid Balmorals pulled down too far, or puffed-up, or generally worn 'wrong' that I am tempted to take the wearer firmly by the neck and teach him the error of his ways..!

In fact, an ex-A&SH jock warrant officer and I had this exact discussion at the Aboyne Games recently - sloppy headwear (and there was plenty to be seen) upset his sensibilities. He expressed it differently, as you might imagine.

It will be interesting to see if, and how quickly, your predictions come true, but I can see bands swapping to Balmorals as a way of setting themselves apart from the 'old fashioned' Glengarry lot. Now you've pointed it out, I shall take note...

Incidentally, one of the trustees of the museum where I work is a direct descendant of the eponymous Glengarry himself, and has a wealth of family tales to tell.

[OC Richard]

You're 100% correct the Balmoral takes more care to wear properly, and is open to a much wider range of wearing wrongly.

The Glengarry is more or less two stiff boards so it's going to have the right shape regardless.

In spite of that I do see some pipe band people wearing Glens badly, the usual problem is to have an expanse of exposed forehead with the Glen shoved ludicrously back on the head.

[OC Richard]

The current look started developing in the 90s? Dang. When I joined my band in 2005 we were still wearing PCs, tux shirts, bow ties, white hose, and balmorals.

I've been trying to nail down the timeline as best I can. I started in bands around 1977 which was when big changes were happening.

Here's a Highland Games in 1972. There are no Ghillies, no Glengarries. Bands are either in full civilian Evening Dress (complete with full tartan hose and buckled shoes) or the civilian version of military Full Dress. (It's an oft-seen old postcard. I did some research identifying the bands seen.)



I put together this collage showing (clockwise from top left) early 1970s band with full Evening dress, Canair 1976, Triumph Street 1979, and the new look 1999.

[JPS]

I also think (hope) we'll see bands go to a more traditional civilian look. I saw that 78th Frasers also went with tweed waistcoats and staghorn buttons for this year's Worlds.

[OC Richard]

I also think (hope) we'll see bands go to a more traditional civilian look. I saw that 78th Frasers also went with tweed waistcoats and staghorn buttons for this year's Worlds.

I think so too, and it's been catching on already.

It's been perhaps a decade now that Glasgow Skye Association has been wearing "weathered" tartan kilts and brown tweed waistcoats.

At some point Inveraray adopted mid-grey tweed waistcoats, which with their "ancient" tartan kilts and sealskin sporrans gave them a more "traditional" look.

Looking back, in 1996 nineteen of the 20 Grade One bands at the Worlds wore jackets (Victoria Police their Police shirts).

In 2014 this was reversed with only one band in jackets, the rest in waistcoats. Most were black, Navy, or charcoal Barathea with silver buttons, however Inveraray had mid-grey tweed and a couple bands had black tweed with horn buttons.

In 2018 less than half the bands wore waistcoats with silver buttons, the rest horn or just ordinary suit buttons. As best I could tell (on the live streaming) half the waistcoats were tweed.

In 2019 only six bands had the old black Barathea waistcoats with silver buttons. Tweeds were brown, dark green, mid-grey, sort of a Lovat/Navy mix (SFU), charcoal, and black.

In 2022 and 2023 only three bands had the old black Barathea & silver button waistcoats.

This year I was there rather than watching the live stream, but just walking around I saw that the majority of bands in all grades seemed to be wearing tweed.

Black hose are practically dead as well (in 2023 only two bands wore them).

[OC Richard]

I went down the rabbithole of looking at old photos of Grade One bands in their competition dress in the 1960s through 1980s.

The surprising thing to me was seeing Edinburgh Police competing in full traditional civilian Day dress (tweed jackets etc) in 1969.

The caption said that they "broke the mould" by competing in "number two dress" which evidently was unheard-of at that time. (Of course the tweed Day jackets weren't No2 Dress in the military sense.)

I found a photo of Edinburgh Police wearing that tweed kit in 1966 but it wasn't in competition.

At top in this collage we see Edinburgh Police and Muirhead & Son both in 1969.

Muirhead's "No1 Dress" and Clan MacFarlane's civilian Evening Dress (complete with full tartan hose and buckled shoes) would have been how all the other bands looked then.

Next we see Triumph Street, CanAir, and City of Victoria in 1976, with the offwhite "Arran" hose and Ghillies being blended more or less with the last vestiges of civilian Evening Dress.

Bottom right is Denny & Dunipace in 1978, bottom left is Lothian & Borders said to have been taken between 1977 and 1981. Both photos show the new black Glengarry + black jacket + Arran hose + Ghillies outfit which was to sweep over the entire pipe band world in the 1980s.

That outfit has remained stable more or less, with pure white popcorn top hose replacing the offwhite Arran hose in the 1990s, and in turn being replaced by black hose in the 2010s. Jackets were jettisoned in favour of waistcoats around 2010.

Now in the 2020s black is nearly extinct being replaced by greys and blues (mostly) for both waistcoats and hose.