1 Kilt 10 Looks : A Visual Guide to Formality in Highland Attire

**macdoc451** · 7th October 09, 11:25 AM

thank you!! I've long been looking for a nice visual, of this caliber!! Very well done, and, well-received, on this end!

**The Thing** · 17th December 09, 11:32 PM

Fantastic,

Whilst not knowing a great deal about kilts it's fantastic to see the range that one can wear for all and any occassion. Just fantastic, that's why I love this site.

**Gunnair** · 18th December 09, 09:24 PM

Well done!

**Schiehallion** · 28th January 10, 04:39 AM

Fantastic set of pics from both of you. It just shows how adaptable to every occasion wearing a kilt can be.

**OC Richard** · 29th January 10, 05:19 AM

I'm just now seeing this thread... I'm still sort of an XMarks newbie and I'd just never got around to seeing what it's all about.

Those are great photos, wonderful collections of stuff!

The only time I did anything like that was back in the 1980's when I began working at a Highland Dress Outfitters and could get everything at cost.

So as to allow prospective music job clients to see what sorts of "looks" I could appear at their events in, I posed for a number of photos.

But... there are two different kilts!!! Sorry 'bout that. (British Columbia and MacDonald muted from House of Edgar.)

First is one of the few photos I have of myself wearing a Renaissance style shirt and vest, with kilt and belted plaid (which of course didn't exist at that time). It'll have to serve as the most "informal" photo. Remember when these photos were taken Utilikilts and "casual kilts" etc didn't exist and the traditional modes of Highland Dress still held sway.

Here's the full traditional Day Dress of the time: tweed jacket with co-ordinating self-coloured hose and Balmoral.

Here's the then-recent Argyll jacket look, with pure white hose, which at that time was beginning to take over the Pipe Band world. It's still the standard dress of Pipe Bands the world over. But, at that time wearing a black (not navy) Glengarry still looked too military for most, and a black (not navy) Balmoral was thought the most fitting headdress. That didn't last and the Glengarry took over.

Here's Evening Dress which of course required its own type of jacket, sporran, hose, and shoes. I actually had matching tartan hose at some point, evidently not when this photo was taken! I loved those vivid blue hose, which looked so good with that tartan.

And last but not least military-style Full Dress complete with sword and dirk etc with matching British Columbia hosetops.

Anyhow I haven't owned that stuff for decades, but got rid of it all as I gained weight etc.

Then recently I posed for a couple pictures showing first the typical modern Pipe Band look, this time with grey hose, and then the same kilt, jacket, and hat dressed up with Edwardian sporran and brooch, and fly plaid, tartan hose, and buckled shoes for a quasi-Edwardian look. (The tartan is Drummond of Perth muted from House of Edgar.)

(For you pipers out there, the pipes I'm playing back in the 1980's is a very old set of Glens c1860, ivory and plain silver. I switched bagcovers for the photos, claret for the muted MacDonald and blue for British Columbia. The new set is blackwood Dunbars fully mounted in engraved aluminum.)

**Ancienne Alliance** · 29th January 10, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

I'm just now seeing this thread... I'm still sort of an XMarks newbie and I'd just never got around to seeing what it's all about.

Those are great photos, wonderful collections of stuff!

The only time I did anything like that was back in the 1980's when I began working at a Highland Dress Outfitters and could get everything at cost.

So as to allow prospective music job clients to see what sorts of "looks" I could appear at their events in, I posed for a number of photos.

Excellent job !

Thank you for sharing !

Best,

Robert

**azwildcat96** · 29th January 10, 03:44 PM

It was shared with me by several people that the look of a kilt can be altered simply by the accessories worn with it. This is very apparent by these photos. Thank you for proving this point.

I was also told that it is far easier to dress down a formal kilt than to dress up a casual one. Perhaps this is a good reason to have several kilts as well, ranging from casual to formal.

I see now that kilt ownership is going to be another costly endeavor.

**Dean** · 1st February 10, 12:24 AM

Panash,

You have some really beautiful jackets to go with your kilts. Bravo!

**creagdhubh** · 8th February 10, 03:16 PM

I love the pics! Especially the red and white diced hose, very sharp indeed! Below is a close up shot of my Macpherson red ancient kilt and my sporan molach, or hair sporran. It's made by L&M out of Novia Scotia, as all of my sporran are, with exception to my full mask sporrans-they are made in the Highlands by Kate Macpherson-link to follow. The cantle is heavy silver with embossed thistles, patent leather, and it features 6 short, black tassles with the same silver, thistle embossing for the cones. It is a custom made sporran designed by myself after the Macleay portrait of Lachlan Macpherson of Strathmashie who has a similar sporran, except his has the totem and crest of the Macphersons, a Scottish Wildcat on the cantle-I can not do that because it is soley the crest and property of the chief and must always be encircled by a belt and buckle. Would have looked great though with a silver rampant wildcat!

**OC Richard** · 25th April 10, 10:57 AM

I recently got a tweed jacket, made by St Kilda. Its colours compliment my Drummond of Perth (muted) very nicely I think.

Here are two looks, one keeping more in line with the tweed, with grey hose and a grey striped wool necktie, the other with claret hose and necktie (too much red I think).

The claret hose at the bottom actually match the kilt well.

I don't show any sporran because I don't own a "day" sporran! That's my next project.