Quote Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome View Post
These days solid colored hose are quite commonly seen with evening wear, which would have been anathema 100 years ago. So here we see fashion is changing, and the rules of etiquette along with it. I would suggest that fashion may allow for diced or Argyle hose to be worn more casually than perhaps was allowed in the past.

To be quite frank, being in the business I am in, I get to see quite a lot of plain colored solid knit hose, so I tend to applaud those who strike out and wear something different!
I couldn't agree more, Matt. Every formal event I go to nowadays is full of men in PC's with white hose and it is so obvious most of them have hired the outfit. I can see the point of plain hose from a cost perspective and maybe that is why tartan hose have been kept for formal occasions. We Scots are supposed to be canny with the bawbees after all! As a teenager every formal event was a black tie occasion but then things changed, people couldn't be bothered and lounge suits became acceptable. Then, horror of horrors, tee shirts and jeans but all this time the women kept going to the hairdressers, slapping on the make-up and wearing their best frocks so what did that say about their menfolk? But then what goes around usually comes around and men are starting to get back to formal dressing again and it seems only right to follow some kind of etiquette so everyone is comfortable. What could be worse than turning up at some social event looking like a pantomime dame?