Prince Charles Duke of Rothesay in kilt photos

[Freelancer]

It's a general rule of men's fashion that your shoes should match your belt. Well, since a sporran is not a belt and is not a part of "typical" men's fashion, then perhaps this general rule need not apply. Hey, it looks OK to me in these photos.

[beloitpiper]

I always thought it to be a good idea to match all leathers and all metals. That is: belt, sporran and shoes of the same color and rings, cufflinks, watches all of the same metal.

[Nick]

I always thought it to be a good idea to match all leathers and all metals. That is: belt, sporran and shoes of the same color and rings, cufflinks, watches all of the same metal.

I agree with leathers to a point. If the leathers can be seen and can be changed, then they should match. Kilt straps tend to be black and can't be changed, but I'd still wear a brown belt/sporran/shoes.

Metals, though, I won't match. I prefer silver, and most things will be in that, but the mounting on my eyeglasses is gold, and the only tie bar I have is gold, too. If I wore gold coloured, my wedding band is still silver, and I prefer silver-coloured watches. If they mix, I think they compliment each other.

[ThistleDown]

I can't say that I have ever noticed, much, about matching shoes and sporran, I wear black brogues with a black sporran simply because that is what I have and I see no real reason to change.The convention probably says they ought to match, but I doubt that anyone pays too much heed to that.

I think the matching "convention" is not a Highland one. The school I attended insisted on black brogues with a kilt, short pants and long, a black belt with pants, but a brown belt and brown sporran with a kilt. I can't think of any Highland regiment in which brown shoes are worn, but all, I think, wear the standard sporran in brown leather.

Perhaps we could look to such as Prince Charles for visible guidance in this as in other "traditional" areas. For example, Jock, "himself" has a fine old brown sporran you have no doubt often seen, Cluny Macpherson has a brass and brown sporran, Invercauld has an ancient moth-eaten cat, Dochgarroch has a fine doeskin and brass sporran, the Prince has a brown sporran with a silver cantle -- and all wear black shoes.

Perhaps the convention is the shoes and not the match with belt and sporran.

[Ancienne Alliance]

I think the matching "convention" is not a Highland one. .

It's certainly not a French one !




Best,

Robert

[M. A. C. Newsome]

It's a good rule of thumb to match the color of your leathers and match the color of your metals, just speaking in terms of general advice. If you are advising someone who is new to highland attire or just doesn't have a good eye for matching color and pattern, that's a good place to begin. (Rather like advising someone that solid color shirts look best with kilts. This is not to say that a patterned shirt, like a tattersal shirt, doesn't look fine with a kilt. But if a person does not have an eye for selecting patterns that tone well together, his best bet is to choose a solid color).

But I think too many people take this general advice and turn it into an absolute rule which must not be broken. And this creates a false rigidity that was never really part of traditional highland attire.

So while, in general, I'll wear brown shoes with my brown sporran and black shoes with my black sporran, I will wear a combination on occasion. For instance, on Monday I was wearing a brown leather sporran. I thought it matched the kilt and shirt I had on nicely. I was also wearing navy blue hose, which matched the kilt and shirt nicely -- but I didn't like the way my brown shoes looked with the navy hose, so I wore black.

The shoes worked with the hose. The sporran worked with the kilt and shirt. And the whole outfit worked together. I didn't get a single comment from anyone about my sporran and shoes not matching. :-)

[Ancienne Alliance]

It's a good rule of thumb to match the color of your leathers and match the color of your metals, just speaking in terms of general advice. If you are advising someone who is new to highland attire or just doesn't have a good eye for matching color and pattern, that's a good place to begin. (Rather like advising someone that solid color shirts look best with kilts. This is not to say that a patterned shirt, like a tattersal shirt, doesn't look fine with a kilt. But if a person does not have an eye for selecting patterns that tone well together, his best bet is to choose a solid color).

But I think too many people take this general advice and turn it into an absolute rule which must not be broken. And this creates a false rigidity that was never really part of traditional highland attire.

So while, in general, I'll wear brown shoes with my brown sporran and black shoes with my black sporran, I will wear a combination on occasion. For instance, on Monday I was wearing a brown leather sporran. I thought it matched the kilt and shirt I had on nicely. I was also wearing navy blue hose, which matched the kilt and shirt nicely -- but I didn't like the way my brown shoes looked with the navy hose, so I wore black.

The shoes worked with the hose. The sporran worked with the kilt and shirt. And the whole outfit worked together. I didn't get a single comment from anyone about my sporran and shoes not matching. :-)

Thank you for "translating" my thoughts Mr Newsome.


Best,

Robert

[B. Somm]

I don't care much for Prince Charles as a person, but I am impressed with how well he wears the kilt!

B.

[AcuteEnigma]

I don't care much for Prince Charles as a person, but I am impressed with how well he wears the kilt!

B.

How well do you know him? The people I've talked to that actually know him say he's extremely nice. Every August he goes up to Caithness and always tours farms and other local businesses and does what he can to help out.

He saved Dumfries House. He is always helping out someone or somewhere.

[Joseph McLaren]

I think we should keep this discussion to HRH's clothing alone~ it's already been closed once, and it's one of the best threads on here,