THCD Photo Examples

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Agreed! Those are simply gorgeous! Why is it so hard to find ghillies in brown?

Probably because brown shoes tend to stain easily and look rather bad after tramping around in the out of doors, something that does not occur with black shoes.

[artificer]

Agreed! Those are simply gorgeous! Why is it so hard to find ghillies in brown?

Probably because brown shoes tend to stain easily and look rather bad after tramping around in the out of doors, something that does not occur with black shoes.

That's the one thing that always keeps me from buying what Allen Edmonds calls "Walnut" leathers.

They're a bugger to get the scuffs and scrapes out of, the leather burnishes oddly with use, and they stain with mud/sweat/tannin/ale.

They do look lovely though.

ith:

[MacLowlife]

Someone who knows more than I do can comment on the "brown shoe army" of the 20th century, but I would suggest that brown is usually the natural color of leather and as such, ought to be a desirable one. l agree, some of those beautiful tan colors ( whisk(e)y, buff, maple, English tan, saddle, luggage, etc.) suffer mightily in the real world. I think that is the theory behind suede and light colored suedes being the province of the idle rich- nobody else can maintain them.

But honest brown, brown the color of leather that has been maintained and oiled, seems to me to be the logical color of highland dress. Curiously, the shoes in MacLeay are almost never recognizably brown. Some seem to be sandy colored and some are of an indeterminate color, but most are, of course, black. In my fevered quest for country shoes, I was surprised again and again to see black shoes offered with soles and construction clearly intended never to see a bank boardroom. To my mind, they might as well have been patent leather. But I suppose black can always be polished over one more time.

Oh, but I did find something interesting in MacLeay- Two gents described as Forbes-Men seem to be ancestors of mine. Both of their belt buckles and both of their sporran cantles are embossed

LOWLIFE.

At least that's what it looks like to me. I guess the Mac came later.

[creagdhubh]

Someone who knows more than I do can comment on the "brown shoe army" of the 20th century, but I would suggest that brown is usually the natural color of leather and as such, ought to be a desirable one. l agree, some of those beautiful tan colors ( whisk(e)y, buff, maple, English tan, saddle, luggage, etc.) suffer mightily in the real world. I think that is the theory behind suede and light colored suedes being the province of the idle rich- nobody else can maintain them.

But honest brown, brown the color of leather that has been maintained and oiled, seems to me to be the logical color of highland dress. Curiously, the shoes in MacLeay are almost never recognizably brown. Some seem to be sandy colored and some are of an indeterminate color, but most are, of course, black. In my fevered quest for country shoes, I was surprised again and again to see black shoes offered with soles and construction clearly intended never to see a bank boardroom. To my mind, they might as well have been patent leather. But I suppose black can always be polished over one more time.

Oh, but I did find something interesting in MacLeay- Two gents described as Forbes-Men seem to be ancestors of mine. Both of their belt buckles and both of their sporran cantles are embossed

LOWLIFE.

At least that's what it looks like to me. I guess the Mac came later.

In reference to MacLeay's portrait of the Forbes men, their waist plates and corresponding sporran cantles read, "Lonach", which is indeed their motto. The Forbes (and Wallace) men still gather annually to this day and it is a real treat to observe. I'm guessing you may have already know this mate...wasn't sure!

As to brown brogues, I love the look of them! Loake, which is my favourite shoe maker, has a wonderfully smart line of full and half brogues in an array of brown colours - eventually I will purchase several pairs, but at the moment, I am completely satisfied with wearing my black Loake brogues with my Highland day attire, and to some, black is the only way to go. The black versus brown debate has already been widely addressed on this forum, so I wont go into all of that again. A fellow Macpherson cousin of mine does own a pair of ghillie brogues in a tan colour, complete with matching laces! They are indeed hard to find, and the soles are black and clunky - not my cup of tea, but they don't look too terrible. There's a photo of him wearing such shoes (with evening attire, which boggled my mind, but nonetheless) in my earlier post in this thread.

The Paul Stuart's look quite nice!

Slainte,

[MacMillans son]

Probably because brown shoes tend to stain easily and look rather bad after tramping around in the out of doors, something that does not occur with black shoes.

And so, if you are of a culture/economic status where you must make do with only one pair of shoes for all occasions, you want that shoe to be able to look as good as possible,
hence black ?

[creagdhubh]

Probably because brown shoes tend to stain easily and look rather bad after tramping around in the out of doors, something that does not occur with black shoes.

Precisely. I currently own four different pairs of brogues, all from Loake. They vary in style by the difference in what type of brogue pattern each shoe has - some are full brogue (wingtip), half brogue (cap toe), etc. They are all high polished black leather with Goodyear welted leather soles. I have owned them for 5 years now, with me only wearing them with Highland attire and nothing else. They are still in very good shape and since they have had adequate time to be broken in, and I take good care of them by using saddle soap, good polish, soft brushes and polishing cloths, cedar shoe trees, etc, they truly fit even better when I first purchased them direct from Loake! I had many years of shoe care experience during my tenure as an active-duty Marine, so naturally any shoe of mine that is leather and can hold a shine, shall be polished (and that goes for anything silver or brass as well!)!

Cheers,