Flat Caps. No no and thrice no! Suitable hats when wearing your kilt. Discuss

[ForresterModern]

Sorry to disagree with you Jamie, but to my eyes, aesthetically, flat caps look downright awful! Others, obviously think differently!

Jock

You've hit on the key issue here-----style and taste, personal preference. Not convention, not history, not nationalism. Flat caps are kinda like broccoli. Some folks like them and others hate them, then others wouldn't give a whip. It is that way with pretty much anything with a style--clothes, cars, TV shows and movies, on and on and on....

But you have to admit, there must be an awful lot of folks who do like those flat caps, with or without kilts, as it seems that the retailers continue to sell them a quite a clip.

j

[Colin]

Wow - 9 pages on flat caps... What a wonderfully delightful way to spend the afternoon!

Please carry on.

I only wish I could. Unfortunately I have an appointment to pull my toe nails out with pliers that can't be missed

[Panache]

Sorry to disagree with you Jamie, but to my eyes, aesthetically, flat caps look downright awful, when worn with the kilt! Others, obviously think differently!

Jock

You've hit on the key issue here-----style and taste, personal preference. Not convention, not history, not nationalism. Flat caps are kinda like broccoli. Some folks like them and others hate them, then others wouldn't give a whip. It is that way with pretty much anything with a style--clothes, cars, TV shows and movies, on and on and on....

But you have to admit, there must be an awful lot of folks who do like those flat caps, with or without kilts, as it seems that the retailers continue to sell them a quite a clip.

j

Actually FM, I think that our aesthetic values tend to be pretty tied up to our cultural upbringing.

But boy that brings a lot of sociology and human development, and the nature of art and aesthetic values into the equation.

Hang on for more pages Phil!

Cheers

Jamie

[Jock Scot]

Jock

You've hit on the key issue here-----style and taste, personal preference. Not convention, not history, not nationalism. Flat caps are kinda like broccoli. Some folks like them and others hate them, then others wouldn't give a whip. It is that way with pretty much anything with a style--clothes, cars, TV shows and movies, on and on and on....

But you have to admit, there must be an awful lot of folks who do like those flat caps, with or without kilts, as it seems that the retailers continue to sell them a quite a clip.

j

You are of course quite correct. I have several tweed caps, my wife accuses me of collecting them, and I wold not be without them, apart from when I am wearing the kilt! My tailor can almost bank on a sale of a cap when I visit his shop.

[cessna152towser]

You are accepting that people are going to look at you and think you are eccentric or ignorant.

I can't agree.
If someone thinks I am eccentric or ignorant that is their problem.
Maybe the person who thinks flat caps are wrong with casual kilts is the one who is eccentric and ignorant for being so intolerant of other people's clothing preferences.
Personally I would not wear a flat cap with a kilt but I know people who do and I think they look just fine.

[ForresterModern]

I can't agree.
If someone thinks I am eccentric or ignorant that is their problem.
Maybe the person who thinks flat caps are wrong with casual kilts is the one who is eccentric and ignorant.
Personally I would not wear a flat cap with a kilt but I know people who do and I think they look just fine.

Thanks for your support, Alex.

Can I interest you in a tartan flat cap?

[svc40bt]

See below picture for examples. (TOP feft to Right, then bottom left to right)

IMHO a "Militery Baret", is not the same as an actual Balmoral.

1 A military beret is smaller = 9 1/2" diam. & is in it's current isue "blocked" for the "flash" The one I am wearing is my 1960 SF ( and is unblocked)

2. A "standard " Balmoral = 10 1/2" diam.

3. A current Brit. issue Tam O Shanter (TOS) = 11" diam.

4. A WWII & prior Brit issue TOS = 12" diam.

5. A "period" TOS = 14" diam

Hope this helps
PUFFER

Thanks for the thorough explanation. Based on your pictures, and the one of ForesterModern sporting a balmoral similar to what I have seen (yours being more 'rustic' pieced rather than blocked felt); I would say that the TOS whether felt or pieced appears to have a different shape, with a defined band area then flaring out to the broad diameter. The beret and the balmoral appear to share the same shape (no well defined band) and differ only in diameter and furnishings.

This brings up another question. It would seem to me, that to keep the same proportion, the diameter of the hat would have to increase with the diameter of the head. But your information would seem to disagree.

[RockyR]

Jock

You've hit on the key issue here-----style and taste, personal preference. Not convention, not history, not nationalism. Flat caps are kinda like broccoli. Some folks like them and others hate them, then others wouldn't give a whip. It is that way with pretty much anything with a style--clothes, cars, TV shows and movies, on and on and on....

But you have to admit, there must be an awful lot of folks who do like those flat caps, with or without kilts, as it seems that the retailers continue to sell them a quite a clip.

j

I agree... it's a matter of style and taste.

If you read the book 'so you want to wear the kilt' (considered a sort of bible to many), it suggests that a kilt should be worn at LOWEST an inch above the kneecap (if memory serves). If people on this side of the pond would do that as standard, we'd all be laughed at for wearing mini kilts.

I've had people who were IN the Sutherland Highlanders pipe band and the Canadian military tell me that my kilt is too short b/c when I kneel, it is an inch off the ground (hits the top of my knee). According to what he was told in the service, the kilt should be JUST scraping the ground when worn.

Who is correct?

Flat caps worn with can be seen in the same way. Who is correct?

The only thing that could bother me is when people wear a tartan flat cap and a DIFFERENT tartan kilt. I hate mixing tartans, even though it 'historically done'.

[Haegl]

Caubeen, I'm just not able to face the little fuzzy ball

[Rex_Tremende]

First off, I should disclaim that I am a flat-hat-with-kilt-leaning hat agnostic. I don't wear hats as part of an ensemble, but rather for practical reasons, like keeping off the sun or keeping away the cold. I eschew ball caps for the most part, but have a leather one for when I'm feeling particularly butch and keep a couple cotton ones around for yard work, though for that, my very wide-brimmed straw hat is best. To the best of my recollection, I've never worn any hat with a traditional tartan kilt.

But here's where I get lost (this is for you, Ted):

The normal sports jacket isn't cut for a kilt; that's why it looks wrong. A nice tweed jacket cut in the right fashion looks great.

Well quite: the flat cap isn't cut the right way for wearing with a kilt.

I get the kilt jacket thing. It's about proportion and the way that the various parts of each garment interact with each other. But I certainly don't understand the argument about the cut of the hat.

Not counting the flat hat and Jamie's tweed whatever that is hat, there are at least three or four types of hats I usually see paired with kilts in a traditional fashion. I think they are: Glengarry, Balmoral, Tam O'Shanter, Caubeen. I don't see what it is about the cut of these that distinguishes them as having been cut for a kilt.

None of them have a bill. Is that it?

Whatever.

It seems it's really a question of... What is it?

I think that on an aesthetic level they do work.

Sorry to disagree with you Jamie, but to my eyes, aesthetically, flat caps look downright awful, when worn with the kilt!

Oh, yes. Aesthetics. Which is both innate and culturally influenced.

You are accepting that people are going to look at you and think you are eccentric or ignorant.

Meanwhile, from the other point of view, "Hm," someone may think. "That guy thinks I'm ignorant and eccentric! Well, what does he know anyway? What a rube!"

Such a fuss.

Regards,
Rex.