Full Mask Sporrans, Good for What Ails You?

[Phil]

Here is an illustration from an old catalogue just to show full mask sporans are nothing new -


They are not shown for evening wear, however, only day wear so this extension into evening wear is probably fairly new. I suppose if you have spent £400+ on the thing you want to wear it as much as possible!

[Bugbear]

It was the STM's mask sporrans I was thinking about before starting the thread.

I guess I didn't really mean "ultra casual," I was thinking of polo shirt and hose casual.

[Bugbear]

I guess it would be something to keep in mind rather than several sporrans.

I wouldn't wear a formal, silver cantle fur sporran for daywear, so ...

[Wompet]

Now, I'm wondering what a Woodchuck/Ground-hog/Gopher mask-sporran would be like... I'm sure it would be popular on the Golf Course! ;-)

Well, it would look like this:

They're the cat's meow!

Yes, yes it is.

You'll notice that the head does lie flat; the apparent "bulkiness" of the sporran is the result of the wide gusset.

Ted, in response to your original post: I have worn this sporran formally and semi-formally, and I could see myself wearing it casually with a polo or similar shirt.
In fact, there used to be some pictures of Turpin (who made this one for me) wearing "Buddy the Badger" at either Grandfather Mountain or Stone Mountain with a more casual outfit.

[lasrl]

I agree with full mask sporrans having "some taxidermy", and also believe that the head should stick out some, but not too much. I also believe that they should be limited to mammals around the size of a small fox or a badger. I think that L & M has the best product, if you are looking for a mask sporran. I believe that mask sporrans can be worn appropriately for everything from formal day wear, to "after 6pm white tie." However, I would also say that a full mask sporran with tassels should probably be reserved for either black tie or white tie events only, and be excluded from casual wear completely. This is of course my opinion, and I'm sure others would disagree with this opinion.

[Bugbear]

It's worth thinking about... You would have to figure out which critter you want to wear, but sounds like that would take care of most of the sporran needs.

[Bugbear]

So what does everyone else say about no tassels outside of black or white tie formal?

[Highland Logan]

So what does everyone else say about no tassels outside of black or white tie formal?

For a full-mask, I agree.

Frank

[Bugbear]

All right then, no tassels for it to work from casual to formal.

I don't know how these sporrans work, but I am able to remove the tassles on my daywear rabbit sporran; they have split rings on the end of the chains. Just a thought...

It does look like there is at least one mask sporran with horse hair tassels at the STM.

All this can only lead to one question.

If a full mask sporran with tassels is unacceptable for anything but black or white tie attire, then is a full mask sporran without tassels acceptable as a formal sporran.?

[Phil]

What is or is not "acceptable" is perhaps a subject best left to the traditionalist forum. My view is that most things are "acceptable" but whether or not they are "appropriate" is another matter altogether. Take shoes, for instance, another contentious matter here. For evening wear anything from the most exquisite patent leather pumps, perhaps with silver buckles, to a pair of brogues (wing-tips I believe is the phrase) is perfectly "acceptable". Similarly with sporans, anything from a long-haired piper's-type one to an ugly-face one such as we have seen recently is perfectly "acceptable" to wear to an evening function. All types of shirt from wing-collar with ruched front to plain with turned down collar are quite "acceptable" for such events. What is "appropriate", however, is a quite different matter and one that depends entirely on the good taste and care for the personal appearance of the individual concerned. A subject many degrees down the path of "appropriateness" from the kilt worn with pleats to the front.