Please don't DELETE this thread (until I've read a decent reply)

[Fit2BKilted]

I know from recent Announcements that this is a de facto forbidden topic; but, I have to know (since I've never been witness to the reputed madness that the subjects of "flat caps" and "white hose" ellicit... I'm a relative newbie here, so please keep your responses factual and breif if possible (so that the Moderators will not have to intervene before I can get read the information I'm seeking)

So... What is it about Flat Caps and White Hose that generates so much controversy? Just summarize the positions of the various parties, without any vitriol if you please.

[ccga3359]

I'd better reply before this gets deleted...












It's because those items make the traditionalists cringe!














Much like this:

[dfmacliam]

Fashion.... or unfashionable to some... White hose are usually reserved for pipers... but in dress wear... its like wearing dress p**nts, you do not wear white socks with them, you usually match your clothing.. as for the flatcap... I guess some do not feel its appropriate, to wear one when one is dressed traditionally... I guess that part is a personal judgement.

[GDub]

...So... What is it about Flat Caps and White Hose that generates so much controversy? Just summarize the positions of the various parties, without any vitriol if you please.

The "controversy" is nothing more than what some consider a fashion faux pas. Meaningless, IMHO. Wear what you want.

[dfmacliam]

Notice Grant has his standards... he will not wear a flatcap with his sporran...they clash...LOL

[Riverkilt]

Thought the white hose thing was a joke. Guess they're what we wear early on until we acquire other colors since white goes with so many colors...

Does look a little silly with a contemporary kilt.



Sort of a stretch with traditional too



But hey, what do I know? I just figured it was a running joke rather than some sort of fashion pronouncement....

No comment on the other issue.

Ron

[ccga3359]

Notice Grant has his standards... he will not wear a flatcap with his sporran...they clash...LOL

But I might be wearing white hose . White hose is what you get when you rent your wedding kilt. Seeing a kiltie with white hose jsut shows a renter or less than knowledgable.

[SteveB]

For the new members of our forum:

Flat caps:
Many do not feel that the flat cap should be worn with traditional Highland Attire. Only the Balmoral, or Glenngarry are acceptable.
Many of the rabble do not fully embrace the traditional Highland Attire thing and believe a flat cap should be worn with a kilt.
There are also a few "traditionalists" that feel the flat cap has very limited uses with the kilt.

White Hose:
If you should hire a kilt, or Highland kit, the Kilt Hire shop will push the white kilt hose as they feel it goes with all tartans, and avoids an inventory of many colours. Many of the "traditionalists" feel kilt hose should be any colour other than white and that the kilt hose does not have to match anything else in the kit. A group of members feel that wearing white kilt hose is too much a symbol of the kilt hire trade, and therefore lessens the quality of the outfit.
Many tolerate white hose that are a part of the uniform of a pipe band, They are even more tolerable if worn with a coloured hose topper.

I hope I have posted this as neutral as I can on the subjects.
Slainte

[Jock Scot]

Well it looks as though the Traditionalists are in to bat first! Well ok perhaps not! Broadly, white hose are a modern(perhaps within the last 40 years) innovation. Mainly I think, brought about by kilt hire companies wanting to standardise things. Now, whether you like the look of white hose,or not, is down to the individual,but to many traditionalists the look is not liked one bit. Apart from when a piper wears white hose, maybe.

Flat caps were worn with the kilt as a matter of course until about 1918 when for reasons that no one can explain satisfactorily they went out of fashion, one of those things I suppose. Anyway, these days in Scotland, the flat cap and the kilt are not often worn together. Across the Atlantic the flat cap and the kilt together seems to be a popular look. Unfortunately!

Right then, things have in the past got very heated and I am sure the mods are watching this thread like a hawk, but it is a fair question that you asked. The other thing that you may notice is that I am the target of some good natured leg pulling on these subjects and as long as it stays good natured, it is just a bit of fun at my expense!

[Fit2BKilted]

Fashion.... or unfashionable to some... White hose are usually reserved for pipers... but in dress wear... its like wearing dress p**nts, you do not wear white socks with them, you usually match your clothing.. as for the flatcap... I guess some do not feel its appropriate, to wear one when one is dressed traditionally... I guess that part is a personal judgement.

Okay... Well, thanks to all of you who have restrained yourselves in your efforts to edify me... I might have liked to have heard a more detailed summary from one of the aformentioned 'traditionalists'; especially about the flat-caps, but at least now I won't be completely cock-eyed by the reference now.

I confess that I *had* heard that pipers were sometimes 'required' to wear white kilt hose; but, I hadn't heard that it was a 'reservation'... Now my principal ignorance about the subject lies in the argument *against* Flat-caps while kilted... and as an aside, would similar assertions be made about wearing a tartan tam-0-shanter with a kilt?

What about wearing multiple tartans concurrently? Such as a tie, hat or scarf in one's mother's family tartan while wearing one's father's family tartan as a kilt... or a District tartan in place of the mother's tartan (as above)?