What is Traditional Highland Dress?

[Lyle1]

I don't think the statement "the ordinary highland scot rarely wears a kilt" should be taken too seriously, Lyle. On this forum alone there are several Highland Scots who wear civilian Highland dress daily and several who are frequently so dressed. There are not hordes of Highlanders leaping from heather hummock to heather hummock in full kit, that's for sure, but we are to be found if you keep your eyes open. Mind you, we are usually just going about our business so you won't find us in the same places as you, the visitor.

Hey, I was only going by what members of this forum who live in Scotland have said on a number of occasions.

[artificer]

No? You reject the idea that a bit of head gear could be adopted as traditional -- a symbol for a nation -- because it is a fashion among some folk in another nation? Or is it because it looks culturally inappropriate when worn with a suit?

I reject it for several reasons;
1) It's only been around for the last 80 years (which, I realize, is a long time for America).

2) It's sole creation seems to be for a sport that, is at best, 2nd in today's America {(Football)-(unfortunately, the American version, not the Premier League/FA/World Cup Variety) is 'America's Game' in this day and age.} BTW: I also HATE American Football.

3) If it appears anywhere but 'Wal-Mart' it's uncouth. Even in today's America.
If you are in any restaurant above one star and are wearing a baseball cap, YOU are the embarrassment (even in today's America). You may, even, be asked to doff your cap, or leave.

4) Most people who wear the 'cap' don't even know what a 'Chav' is...
It doesn't matter what the wear represents elsewhere, it's where it was founded (much like the flat cap being a no-go today in Scotland with the kilt). If you wear it, you're a tit (unless you're playing sport or working under an automobile).

5) If the symbol of my nation is the baseball cap, I'm more than willing to re-locate to Canada or Scotland or Germany. Gods forbid I should ever have to put on a baseball cap when I'm not trying to shade my eyes from sun or grease (auto repair).

6) It is also a killing offense with a suit.

ps. If I came off like a snobbish b@stard, well, good. Apparently I'm still able to type after LOTS of G&Ts.

[ThistleDown]

Hey, I was only going by what members of this forum who live in Scotland have said on a number of occasions.

Yes, for sure for sure. I sometimes think that we tell you that so you can be surprised when you see one of us in our native habitat still in full pelt. "Oh look (pointing) there's a kilt!" We charge for quick pics, did you know?

The key is that those of us who do wear Highland dress are not to be found on the High Street in full panoply. We are at home feeding the hens and undertaking other mundate tasks.

Changing subject: good heavens that's a fine knowledge of American furniture you have!

Rex

[Red Stag]

Baseball caps have been around for 150 years. See this article. How about a nice cashmere ball cap?

[artificer]

Changing subject: good heavens that's a fine knowledge of American furniture you have!

Rex

tis no' American furniture at' all. The Frenchies are responsible for 'da.
Most of American stuff is made of logs.

(I did, however, spend over a decade in ID {Interior Design}). Gods know, it's gotta be worth som'in'.

Don't bother ta' quiz me onna 'mid century modern' furnishings (American 50's-60's). I live THAT life.

[artificer]

Baseball caps have been around for 150 years.

Syphilis has been around longer... It doesn't make it better.
According to 'Wiki', the hat style only became popular with the advent of latex foam rubber... I think that, pretty much, says it all.


As an item of apparel, it's nothing short of ghastly.

Should you need to fix your truck or mow the lawn (which I enjoy), by all means, wear away. Don't pretend that the 'cap' is a functional item of apparel for the gentleman.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Except, hasn't it been mentioned in several discussions on this forum that the "ordinary highland scot" rarely wears a kilt?

That's absolutely true-- but when they do wear the kilt they are appropriately dressed for the occasion, be it a night at the pub, a friends wedding, or the Aboyne Games. In Scotland the kilt is worn without parody.

I think that you are coming very close to taking traditional highland dress into the realm of historical reenactment...

Hardly.

which is fine for those who want to do that. The thing is, though, that you need to recognize that the rules only apply to those who want to assume the highland dress role.

Excuse me, but I'm going to stop you right here to point out that this thread is about traditional Highland attire. If you want to take this into some other realm-- the realm of justifying dressing in a manner largely, if not wholly, unknown in the Highlands of Scotland-- you will probably find more people willing to give your views a sympathetic hearing in another forum.

The rest of us can wear whatever we feel is appropriate.

Absolutely. And if someone wants to advocate wearing one's Y-fronts on their head, like a hat, and cackling like a chicken as one walks down the street, I'll be the first to give their adherents all the space they require on the public foot path. But I won't give one inch to any outlandish suggestions about wearing the kilt on this forum.

I am not saying that wearing what you feel is "correct" traditional attire is wrong, but it is wrong to criticize and/or ridicule kilted folk who don't dress by your rules...

Two things here, where you are off base. (1) I only critique someone if asked for an opinion and then I inevitably try, to the best of my ability, to justify those opinions. (2) I have never ridiculed anyone on this forum, and it is wrong for you to suggest that I have.

...(and you do of course know that there are not really rules on how to dress).

Well, when it come to Traditional Highland attire there are "rules"; you may choose to disregard them, or flaunt them. But the "rules" do exist. I think they are better described as accepted, or expected, standards of dress, but their effect is the same.

What I fail to understand is why you think a thread about traditional Highland dress, in a forum quite clearly about traditional Highland attire, is the place to argue for wearing something other than traditional Highland dress.

[ThistleDown]

I reject it for several reasons;
1) It's only been around for the last 80 years (which, I realize, is a long time for America).

2) It's sole creation seems to be for a sport that, is at best, 2nd in today's America {(Football)-(unfortunately, the American version, not the Premier League/FA/World Cup Variety) is 'America's Game' in this day and age.} BTW: I also HATE American Football.

3) If it appears anywhere but 'Wal-Mart' it's uncouth. Even in today's America.
If you are in any restaurant above one star and are wearing a baseball cap, YOU are the embarrassment (even in today's America). You may, even, be asked to doff your cap, or leave.

4) Most people who wear the 'cap' don't even know what a 'Chav' is...
It doesn't matter what the wear represents elsewhere, it's where it was founded (much like the flat cap being a no-go today in Scotland with the kilt). If you wear it, you're a tit (unless you're playing sport or working under an automobile).

5) If the symbol of my nation is the baseball cap, I'm more than willing to re-locate to Canada or Scotland or Germany. Gods forbid I should ever have to put on a baseball cap when I'm not trying to shade my eyes from sun or grease (auto repair).

6) It is also a killing offense with a suit.

ps. If I came off like a snobbish b@stard, well, good. Apparently I'm still able to type after LOTS of G&Ts.

Artificer I for one am very, very happy to read of your rejection of ballcaps as traditional US headwear. Are you about to move on to something similar for Tom Mix' 10-gallons, John Wayne's 5(?)-gallons and maybe even Clint Northwood's half-gallons?

We don't have the same feeling about the flat caps in Scotland, of course. For its utility it is super; slap it on your head and you will be warm and dry on most days. We don't have too much bright sun to contend with, so its tiny brim is just fine, and a quick nod of the head moves the collected wee pool of water on top in a quick cascade down over your nose and chin. Off it comes as you go indoors and into a pocket whilst you visit.

Up here, in the wettest of times, though, there is nothing quite like a fore-and-aft. Warm, lovely, toastie, *sigh*, sun-shielding, rain down the back and over the collar, good visibility....

In between the informality of the cheese-wedge and the slightly more formality of the coming-and-going (and both sides of both), there's the Highland bonnet! (stiffen your back and raise your chin). Now there's a bit of traditional head gear worth the honour.(shouts and cheers and claps and snears).

(Edit: what, the "baseball cap" has evoved even further? Moving onward from the "ball" cap, it is now simply called "the cap"? Just anothwer step towards acceptance as tradition, I say. But, in my ignorance and with much shuddering, I must ask: what is a Chav?)

[Jock Scot]

My word you chaps have been busy whilst I have been slumbering away!

[macwilkin]

Syphilis has been around longer... I doesn't make it better.
According to 'Wiki', the hat style only became popular with the advent of latex foam rubber... I think that, pretty much, says it all.


As an item of apparel, it's nothing short of ghastly.

Should you need to fix your truck or mow the lawn (which I enjoy), by all means, wear away. Don't pretend that the 'cap' is a functional item of apparel for the gentleman.

Plenty of gentleman, my grandfather included, wore baseball caps during WWII. I suppose the Japanese thought the P-61 Black Widow he worked on was far more gastly than his headgear.

We're all Jock Tamson's bairns.

T.