Kilt attire add-ons. Are they necessary?

[RGM1]

I request under apron pockets for all my custom kilts. Works for cell phones.

[TheVintageLibertine]

A guy was going to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and in the process of working on his acceptance speech he reached out to an existing member for advice.

"Write your speech. Then cut it in half."

Oh if only all speech-givers followed that advice!

The trouble with Highland Dress is that there are so many accessories! A "fully accessorised" gent could look in the mirror and remove one, or two, or a half-dozen, and still be overdressed.

So...just how many traditional accessories might a gent wear? And how few?

Oddly the biggest contrasts both come from Victorian times.

I'll try to list all the accessories.

The gent on the left:

Jabot & cuff ruffles
Dirk belt with dirk
Sword belt with sword
Powder horn
Two Highland pistols
Sgian
Plaid & brooch
Flashes
Buckles on shoes

The gent on the right, listing things which are often seen today that he's not wearing:

No cap badge
No kilt pin
No garter flashes
No sgian
No belt peeking out from under waistcoat

Someone above commented that he normally only wears his kilt on special occasions, like attending Burns Suppers or Highland Games, and so tends to go all out. I, too, fall into that category. I wonder if the Victorian gentleman on the left does as well? Or perhaps, since he was having his portrait taken in evening regalia, he decided to wear everything under the sun?

For me, if I’m getting dressed for a the annual Burns Supper I attend (which is a black tie event), I wear 1) kilt (obviously) with kilt pin, 2) PC coatee with waistcoat, 3) tuxedo shirt with studs and black bow tie, 4) formal sporran with fancy chain, 5) diced hose with grosgrain flashes, and 6) buckle brogues. Things I omit are a plaid (because I find them annoying to wear) and SD (because they are illegal to wear in public in my state).

However, seeing the simplicity of pictures like the gentleman on the right and the “one kilt ten outfits” thread on this forum inspired me to keep it simple when it comes to daytime dress, for example if I go to a Highland Games or similar musical event. For such occasions, the only accessories I wear are a day sporran (to hold my phone and/or wallet), plain hose (with or without flashes or ties depending on my mood), and footwear and tops appropriate to the occasion/activity.

I guess all of that is to say, the only accessories I feel to be vital are a sporran and hose

[Padraicog]

[QUOTE=TheVintageLibertine;1410031Things I omit are a plaid (because I find them annoying to wear) and SD (because they are illegal to wear in public in my state).

[/QUOTE]

But I presume being in the USA you can wear a six-gun instead
!

[OC Richard]

But I presume being in the USA you can wear a _____ instead

All of those things vary by State, so no generalisations apply.

Just looked it up, over half the States are "open carry", though I've done quite a bit of travelling in several of those States (and lived in one of them) and I've never seen a non-law-enforcement person doing so.

My impression is that people that don't live here let their imaginations run away with things.

In any case I don't wear a sgian when doing piping gigs because weapons of any sort are banned at many of the places I'm hired to play.

[OC Richard]

A modest request. Please can we leave the band attire discussions to another thread.

Yes the thread got off track there for a while, sorry!

Though I will say that the piper in question is obviously wearing his personal outfit. No band would require, or allow, their members to wear such impedimenta.

[Jock Scot]

Worry not my dear chap, I regularly get sidetracked!

In my experience there are chaps who dress in traditional kilt attire who can play the pipes if the mood takes and there are those from the pipe band world who only own pipe band attire, the two rarely mix.

[ShaunMaxwell]

… and I've never seen a non-law-enforcement person doing so..

I see it frequently here in Texas! 😀

Now back to the discussion at hand.

Cheer,

SM

[Copley]

Back to the topic of accessories, I just found a photo of a piper also wearing the full range of them.

So here's a civilian Evening Dress outfit and a civilian piper outfit with, I believe, every possible traditional accessory.

Add to that, the piper is wearing the largest shoe-buckles I've ever seen.

I just hope they don't have to go through a metal detector for any event they are attending.

[Jock Scot]

i wonder if a lack of confidence with kilt attire choices that causes these kilt attire add-ons often to excess, that haunt this website from time to time? I respectfully suggest that it is.

In part,I suggest this website is unwittingly adding to this. How often do we see some kilted gentleman, full of enthusiasm with their newly acquired kilt attire and wanting attire advice. Many members here are also in the same position so they are also enthusiastically lapping up the advice too. But..............

BUT they, along with the person asking the question about their newly acquired and not in-expensive outfits are all ears to see how to wear their kilt attire are less than impressed with the advice given. Sadly, experienced kilt wearers, sometimes, actually all too often, have to deliver advice that runs contrary to what the newcomer's dreams and expectations might be. Not only that, those that have been wearing their not quite so new kilt attire quite happily for a while, spring to the new newcomer's defence . And then................... the conversation goes downhill from then on.

This website is to be commended with encouraging newcomers to ask questions about kilt attire, added to that the website is also to be commended for encouraging experienced kilt wearers to offer advice on kilt matters too. The result?

Sadly the result, errr umm, often ends in tears. The Original Poster(OP) is disappointed and often more than a little hurt, as are those who have recently acquired their attire too. Not good news is not easy to deliver, however hard one tries. The question was asked and the question was answered. The overall result that many new and not so new to kilt attire are so sensitive and so defensive that they are ,I feel, less confident to ask for advice and in consequence don't ask for advice and then venture out in public wearing incorrect kilt attire, or worse, they seem to think they are wearing their attire correctly and are verbally aggressive in defending their attire choices.

To wear kilt attire from the start requires confidence and that confidence needs to extend to making different attire choices as our experience grows. The result? We don't need to wear the "kitchen sink"(KS) as our confidence grows.