Diced Hose with Contrasting Garters?

[Cygnus]

Thanks, Matt - I had completely forgotten the picture of you in the green and black diced hose with the blue garter ties. Your kilt photos and blog are great sources of inspiration!

Sandy - I really like those hose (and your buckle shoes)! Thank you for posting those pictures, the combination of colours in both examples look great!

[Ancienne Alliance]

No set rules.

Excellent photos, Matt .


Best,

Robert

[Tiny]

I think tartan flashes with diced hose may be a bit much for me.



Thank you for your responses! Being the frugal chap that I am, I've been searching for the kit I want, at the quality I want, and for a good price. I've found a decent deal on diced hose and am considering getting them, but I wanted to see if wearing them with the garter ties I'll be ordering shortly would be a faux pas. (Why order two sets of garters when one will work for all occasions?) In this case it would be black and red diced hose with yellow garters.

Thanks again, to everyone, for your well-informed answers!

Simple for the price of one pair get a set with 4 colors and change colors as the mood strikes you!

http://www.johnnorris.co.uk/shop/br_...rter-sets.html

[Tobus]

I think tartan flashes with diced hose may be a bit much for me.

Heh, well, I wasn't endorsing it necessarily. Just pointing out that it's done occasionally. The chap in the picture has obviously put together his outfit very carefully and knows a thing or two about kilted attire, so I'm assuming he wouldn't make such a newbie faux pas if there really were a rule against contrasting flashes with diced hose.

[MacLowlife]

I LIKE diced hose, but have been wondering lately. I know that the red and white are Gov't issue and we frequently see them peeping over a piper's spats, but for civilian wear, don't they remind you a little too much of the tablecloth in an Italian restaurant?

Now that we have established that they need no special flashes of their own, does anyone care to offer a theory on which colors look best in which situations? Do you go for tone matching or high contrast, or do you try to pickup one color? Or do you give up on matching and just wear 'em? Personally, I think I understand the idea of not matching pretty well, but I also understand that you probably didn't just find a pair of $120 hose in your sock drawer without some thought or intention. So, how does we choose?

[artificer]

I LIKE diced hose, but have been wondering lately. I know that the red and white are Gov't issue and we frequently see them peeping over a piper's spats, but for civilian wear, don't they remind you a little too much of the tablecloth in an Italian restaurant?

Now that we have established that they need no special flashes of their own, does anyone care to offer a theory on which colors look best in which situations? Do you go for tone matching or high contrast, or do you try to pickup one color? Or do you give up on matching and just wear 'em? Personally, I think I understand the idea of not matching pretty well, but I also understand that you probably didn't just find a pair of $120 hose in your sock drawer without some thought or intention. So, how does we choose?

There's always hose with patterns stitched on them,



I personally LOVE Matt's matching look.


In going back through the MacLeay illustrations (I know, can open-worms everywhere ) I see hose worn EVERY way; matching, complimenting, and WILDLY clashing.

Although I do note that many are worn without any visible garters.

When I finally fork out the loot for hand knitted, patterned hose, I'll probably go for something that can compliment any of my tartans. A little bit of yellow, a touch of red, possibly with a green or blue background.

[AFS1970]

Being that I still only have one kilt, my choices are made based on how things look with it. That being said, I recently ordered my first set of Argyle top hose, prior to this I have only worn solid color. I am becoming a fan of diced hose but have not bought any yet. These choices will greatly effect how I choose flashes.

I generally like different color flashes and hose. I know that one mans complimenting is another mans contrasting, but I like the look of flashes standing out a bit. Now I would also say that the combination of hose and flashes should combine to work well with the tartan.

As for the Italian tablecloth look, I don't think that happens too much, although I have been thinking of either blue/white or green/white to go with my Ancient Baird (the purple/white is just a bit much for me) so the comparison will not be as obvious.

[Tobus]

I know that the red and white are Gov't issue and we frequently see them peeping over a piper's spats, but for civilian wear, don't they remind you a little too much of the tablecloth in an Italian restaurant?

I suppose it varies with the individual's personal experience, but that's not the image it conjures up in my mind. I think of formal wear. The white dicing, to my eye, isn't really an "every day" color for hose. Much like the so-called dress tartans, the addition of white seems to lend itself toward formality. I really like the more civilian look of red/black, blue/black, green/black, or other non-white color combinations in diced hose.

Now that we have established that they need no special flashes of their own, does anyone care to offer a theory on which colors look best in which situations? Do you go for tone matching or high contrast, or do you try to pickup one color? Or do you give up on matching and just wear 'em? Personally, I think I understand the idea of not matching pretty well, but I also understand that you probably didn't just find a pair of $120 hose in your sock drawer without some thought or intention. So, how does we choose?

Trying to keep in mind the idea that "matching" doesn't necessarily have to be the main intent, I personally think what's most pleasing to the eye is "coordinating" the colors. You're absolutely right that if one is going to spend a lot of money on diced/patterned hose, one should presumably be dressing with intent. Not just throwing on colors that are ill-suited to each other, or that cause a visual break or distortion in the overall handsome look of a kilt.

I too love Matt's example of subdued colors in the garters that look like they belong with the hose. Especially when wearing castellated hose where the garters are totally exposed. But when wearing turn-down top hose where all you see is the ends of the garters, there's more leeway for the color to act as an accent. And here I think it's best suited to picking up colors in the kilt, especially if they're not present in the 2 colors of the diced hose. It helps coordinate the colors and create a transition effect between the kilt and the hose. But only within the limits of good taste!

When I finally fork out the loot for hand knitted, patterned hose, I'll probably go for something that can compliment any of my tartans. A little bit of yellow, a touch of red, possibly with a green or blue background.

You know, I never gave much thought to how much patterned hose can totally transform the look of a kilt until I (recently) spent the money and got a pair to match my tartan. It really takes the kilted outfit from a somewhat generic look to (dare I say it) sartorial excellence!

You just can't go wrong with patterned hose custom-made to match your tartan. It totally eliminates the fuss over which color hose to choose, and makes garter choice easy too. You'll notice that I'm not wearing garter ties in this picture, but I think it's obvious that I could have chosen red, blue, green, black, or even charcoal and it would work fine. Though, as you noted, traditional portraits often showed patterned hose being worn without visible garters. Maybe in those days they considered it 'over the top'?

[artificer]

That IS a splendid look!

If I ever manage to get my tartan made, I might just have to get a pair of custom tartan hose to match.

[macwilkin]

I LIKE diced hose, but have been wondering lately. I know that the red and white are Gov't issue and we frequently see them peeping over a piper's spats, but for civilian wear, don't they remind you a little too much of the tablecloth in an Italian restaurant?

Horses for courses...two mates of mine wear red-and-white diced hose, and get nothing but compliments about them. One of them was being constantly asked to pose for photos at our Burns Supper this year. I doubt he'd appreciate them being compared to a tablecloth.

I am seriously considering a pair of green & white diced hose later this year, and I could care less if reminds others of a tablecloth.

T.