Guide to Highland Jackets

[Bugbear]

And I sweep the floor...

I'm not as classy as MacLowlife.

[MacBean]

Anybody know who bought this?

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=260634496885

Or who sold it? Somebody did well.

Not I, though I watched it. That's a low price, but it was too green for me. My recent regulation doublet has some interesting wear patterns. The fabric on the inside of the lapel is very worn, so that in some places all the horizontal threads are gone, but the lapel is strill strong with vertical threads. This puzzled me until I remembered it belonged to a piper. Now I think I like it better with all that great music worn into the inseams!

[artificer]

Anybody know who bought this?

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=260634496885

Or who sold it? Somebody did well.

some lucky feller who liked bright green and wears a 38R?

I find jacket searches so frustrating on ebay. Everything either seems to be a <38R or >52S.

Where are all the old timers, who no longer wear all the nice old tweed stuff in their closets and who happen to be a ~45R?

[Downunder Kilt]

Artificer, in the last 6 months I have purchased 1 Harris Tweed kilt jacket and two Tweed kilt jackets on ebay. One was a 44R and two were 46R. None were listed under tweed kilt jackets and I got them all for under 80.00GBP each.
I search under Harris Tweed jackets, Scottish jackets, Highland Jackets, Tweed jackets and nurmerous other combinations

As others have said you just have to have have a varied search parameter

Good Hunting

[artificer]

Here's a Scottish Regimental Jacket in a 38"
Downunder Kilt, I do vary searches... it just gets tiresome wading through all the XS and XXXL. I've found one or two but the sellers weren't willing to ship overseas (or they wanted +40GBP to do so )

[MacLowlife]

I agree about the 36 and 38 jackets. As for the shipping cost, it seems the Royal Mail is making sure that British subjects do not export their patrimony, or if they do, that they pay plenty of postage along the way. Weight and size restrictions discourage shipping two jackets together, for instance.

Only the very lightest priceless artifacts, wrapped in styrofoam and a thin covering of tartan are worth the cost of shipping overseas. I have been trying for years to get one of the stones from stonehenge and nobody will give me an airmail quote.

[OC Richard]

About that web page which describes various jackets, I found it curious that they said that the Regulation Doublet was so-called because it was the regulation doublet of the Highland regiments. As far as I know, no jacket resembling that photo has ever been worn by any regiment in the British Army. The jacket in that photo seems to have the lapels of a Prince Charlie but the tashes of a Highland doublet.

It's interesting to compare modern offerings with the sorts of Evening jackets offered in Highland Dress catalogues from the 1920s and 1930s.

In this catalogue image, dated 1926, you can see the only two Evening styles offered by RG Lawrie at that time, the "coatee" and the "doublet".



My Wm Anderson & Son catalogue from 1936 has these two styles as well, also called simply "coatee" and "doublet", but also has a third, of which they say:

"The Doublet is less popular than it once was, but is suitable particularly for older men. To get over the objection of the rather heavy skirts we have designed a modified doublet known as the Kenmore Doublet. This makes a neat and shapely coat, and has proved immensely popular since its introduction...
It is a simplified form of the old-fashioned Doublet and may be made with a stand collar or with an open collar."

(This is the only Evening jacket appearing in my old catalogues which requires a belt.)

My Paisleys catalogue from 1939 gives these three styles plus the "Montrose jacket", standing collar, double-breasted, and lacking skirts.

Of these styles I've only come across the "Doublet" in 19th century photos, making me think that the Kenmore, Montrose, and Coatee (Prince Charlie) were devised in the 20th century.

Note that in the 19th century the "Doublet" had an ordinary open collar such as appeared on suit coats of the time, not satin long lapels like the Prince Charlie and modern Regulation Doublets.

[Bugbear]

Oh, no... Not the lapels...

One thing I never figured out is how exactly the tashes are attached to the jackets. Not sure that could be determined by looking at a photo or drawing.

OC Richard, or anyone have a correct answer for that?

Seemed like a strange reason given for not having them on a jacket... "heavy"

[MacBean]

The tashes on my doublet are sewn on from inside the hem of the jacket. The outer tash is heavier and has three buttons per, while the inner tash is a lighter wool affair (thus each tash has two layers). The two central, smaller flaps in the back are single and light weight, without buttons.

[Bugbear]

Thanks, MacBean. That gives me a pretty good idea of how they are attached.
I have a medieval armor book that talks about them, but that's a whole different beast of a doublet.