Flat Caps. No no and thrice no! Suitable hats when wearing your kilt. Discuss

[Adam Pound]

Good heavens man! A toque is as follows:

"A toque or tuque (Canadian French: tuque, sometimes also spelled touque in English[dubious – discuss]) is a knitted hat, originally of wool though now often of synthetic fibers, that is designed to provide warmth in winter. All tuques are tapered, they sometimes have ear-flaps, and may be topped with a pom-pon, this style of tuque is sometimes referred to as a sherpa.[citation needed] Tuques may have a folded brim, or none, and may be worn tightly fitting the skull or loose on top although the latter is considered more standard. The tuque usually is considered Canada's national winter hat, much like the fur hat is in Russia." Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Bonhomme de Neige is a fat snow man found rampaging through the streets of Quebec City in the winter ( and he'd look great in a kilt!)

[Colin]

Early one I wore one of my flat caps with my kilts. Looking back on it now I do think it looks a bit off. Wear what you like, but I am not a fan of the look for myself.

Having said that my flat cap is the only hat I wear besides a touque (no, not a wool cap....a touque!) after sports and training.

[puffer]

I have worn "flat caps" for years, Loooong before I "KILTED UP". When I "switched out from "p*^ts" to the the KILT, my "head gear" choices remained the SAME.
1. BALL CAPS = Extreme casual (Jeans, Sweats & Ball Games etc.
With the kilt, then "uni kilt" types. ( I DO NOT own any of these. so I DO NOT wear a Ball cap with a KILT.
2. FLAT CAPS = "casual" ("cargo", "docker" type pants,sweaters, casual jackets etc.) to casual Business ( slacks, "sports" Jackets, (with or with out tie, vest etc.)
With the Kilt = the same.
Here are 2 pics of the "casual look"


3. BERETS = NEVER (except Vets occasions)
4. Balmoral, TOS etc = Not worn prior to "KILTING UP"
With KILT = Same as "Flat Caps" except that I do have a "dressier" Tam,(one more being made for me by DIANE) that I wear (when the weather requires it) for "Dressier occasions (not "formal")


5. Glengarry = DRESS only (with Kilt) & only plain with out "dicing"

IMHO, the headgear you wear is YOUR choice. If you wear the kilt to "portray" a SCOTS, then the Scots headgear.
. But if you wear the KILT, because you LOVE it, then .....

Puffer

[Good Egg]

Good heavens man! A toque is as follows:

"A toque or tuque (Canadian French: tuque, sometimes also spelled touque in English[dubious – discuss]) is a knitted hat, originally of wool though now often of synthetic fibers, that is designed to provide warmth in winter. All tuques are tapered, they sometimes have ear-flaps, and may be topped with a pom-pon, this style of tuque is sometimes referred to as a sherpa.[citation needed] Tuques may have a folded brim, or none, and may be worn tightly fitting the skull or loose on top although the latter is considered more standard. The tuque usually is considered Canada's national winter hat, much like the fur hat is in Russia." Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Bonhomme de Neige is a fat snow man found rampaging through the streets of Quebec City in the winter ( and he'd look great in a kilt!)

'Bonhomme de Neige' is also a name for a woolly hat, as worn by a snowman. I was being facetious like pointing out that the French have no word for 'entrepreneur'.

In fact I don't mind if you put a flat cap on a snowman - as long as he is not wearing a kilt.

BTB I do hope people accept that my ranting is tongue in cheek - even if it has a serious point.

[Jock Scot]

Quite right Jamie,I did say that Highland attire need not look too "planned and contrived", but there are limits you know! I think that this thread demonstrates,in general terms, perfectly, how people are unaware of how others think.Generally speaking people, your side of the Atlantic seem to stretch the kilt wearing boundaries without being aware that some people this side of the Atlantic are tearing their hair out! What are we to do about it? Just sit there and nod sagely? Well, we could, but we (well alright me at the moment))try to gently point out and inform and I hope, those that want to listen will be better informed, even if people choose to ignore it later, which is of course their right. Only trying to help,you know!

[Panache]

Quite right Jamie,I did say that Highland attire need not look too "planned and contrived", but there are limits you know! I think that this thread demonstrates,in general terms, perfectly, how people are unaware of how others think.Generally speaking people, your side of the Atlantic seem to stretch the kilt wearing boundaries without being aware that some people this side of the Atlantic are tearing their hair out! What are we to do about it? Just sit there and nod sagely? Well, we could, but we (well alright me at the moment))try to gently point out and inform and I hope, those that want to listen will be better informed, even if people choose to ignore it later, which is of course their right. Only trying to help,you know!

Jock,

Something that strikes me about this discussion is how that head gear is something that is really tied in with one's climate.

From you I have understood that the Highlands of Scotland are rather damp, cool, and very windy.

Therefore the proper hat for a highlander should

(1) Keep one's head warm

(2) Not fly off

I think that as the kilt has been worn in other climes other kit has been adopted to make it work.

I can't imagine a highlander in a pith helmet in Scotland, why on earth would he want to block what little sun comes down?

ith: Cheers

Jamie

[RockyR]

Rocky, thank you for you reply and be assured that no offence was taken and none was intended. These threads do give us all an opportunity to see another point of view ,as in this case and with a wee bit of luck we all can be a tad wiser.Let's hope so.

Let me know when your opinion changes and you become a 'tad wiser'. I'm pretty dull, so I don't think I'll wise up any time soon.

Good exchange guys...

[gilmore]

To me, form follows function.

I see no point in wearing a wool hat to highland games in the middle of the day in the middle of the hot, humid summer in the southern US. Instead, I wear a pamana hat for the coolness, and, having had one skin cancer and not wanting another, for the shade. I haven't so far worn a cowboy hat, but I might. They are quite suitable for that purpose.

If it was important to be able to see long distances clearly while moving about rapidly by shading the eyes, I would wear a ball cap. (It almost never is.)

If it's a very cold day, it makes more sense to wear a sock cap pulled down over my shaved head than to wear a balmoral.

In other words, on the continuum between affectation and utilitarianism , I am on the utilitarian side of things.

It is interesting that in Scotland the flat cap has become such a marker of being English.

[Panache]

To me, form follows function.

I see no point in wearing a wool hat to highland games in the middle of the day in the middle of the hot, humid summer in the southern US. Instead, I wear a pamana hat for the coolness, and, having had one skin cancer and not wanting another, for the shade. I haven't so far worn a cowboy hat, but I might. They are quite suitable for that purpose...

For similar reasons (though Summer in California is hot and dry) I adopted a pith helmet to wear to our highland games. After a couple of years of my face being badly sun burnt and my hair all sweaty wearing balmorals and glengarries it made perfect sense.

With it I wore lighter khaki military hose and "safari" style shirts with brown simple accessories.

The look does have a bit of nod to the highland regiments stationed in tropical climes but far more importantly has made me far more comfortable and the games more enjoyable.

Cheers

Jamie

[svc40bt]

As I said before, this topic seems to come up frequently here, and to bring out strong opinions, especially by those against. So I was thinking about it while doing other things. I came back to check on it, looked at the various pics posted, and thought that the one Ron posted with the tweed argyle looked good, but would look better with a crail.

So I was wondering to myself why I thought that. Started with the English vs. Scottish theory. The argyle looking more 'Scottish', but no that wasn't it. Then it occured to me that the argyle looked military, while the crail looked civilian. As far as I know, my comment about wearing TOS to resemble a flat cap notwithstanding, no military has ever used a flat cap as uniform headgear. This would apply to the bucket hat as well.

All the 'traditional' highland gear is derived from military uniforms; the jackets with gauntlet cuffs or whatever the extra material on the sleeve of a PC is called, the numerous buttons, the scalloped pocket flaps, are all derived from 19th century military uniform jackets. The balmoral is very military looking, even if it is not 'ironed and starched'. The flat cap, or bucket hat could not be made to look 'sharp' for a military review.