Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
Oddly, in the large collection of 1860's portraits The Highlanders of Scotland most men have no visible flashes. That surprised me because the regiments all wore visible flashes. In any case the flashes that do show are either plain/self-coloured/solid-colored or striped. The pipers of the Queens Own Highlanders wore striped flashes.
I think this is an excellent observation and I too wonder what was going on there. Were they not using any garters at all? Were they using a woven tie garter without visible ends? Were they using elastic garters and didn't bother with flashes? Did the artist, MacLeay, just not capture this detail in some of his paintings?

Is there anybody else who is familiar with these prints that has anything historical to add regarding garter ties and flashes in the 19th century? Richard and I had previously traded an email over this and I was somewhat surprised to find that elastic dated back to 1820. I have no idea when it entered Highland fashion to keep one's hose "aloft".