Universal hose color?

[MacMillans son]

If had to choose only one color it would be Loden Green seen here:

http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/P1050668.JPG

I find it goes well with modern, as well as, weathered/earth tones.

[gary meakin]

I wear one kilt (MacLachlan Modern) so I use the hose for variety. But I think a green or dark gray would go with just about any tartan.

[OC Richard]

What Jock said.

It's hard to beat Lovat Green. The Army wears it with every military tartan.



I like Burgundy/Claret. Here it is with my new Isle of Skye kilt:



Black and charcoal grey go with anything, but I prefer adding a dash of colour when I can.

Here's a Roxburgh District kilt with grey hose:

[Nighthawk]

As has been stated, matching is not a big deal. HOWEVER- there are certain color hose that can really bring out the colors in a tartan. I really like forest green with my Colorado State. It just makes the tartan really pop. However, were I forced to choose just one, it would be a red of some kind. I like the maroon idea. Red will match any warm color, and be a nice contrast to any cool color. So there you go- my thoughts!

[Guinness>water]

Thanks for the recommendations. I have been doing as Steve suggested and matching my hose with my shirt. That idea has worked so far, but then you need to buy several colors of garter flashes. I'm all about simpleness, one color of hose to go with every tartan and every color of shirt.

I like the oatmeal/bison thought. Should be a every cloths matching sock.

Thanks again.

[Father Bill]

Yup. I'ts been commented on that black is also becoming cliche - that's why the garters can really break the mold. Obviously (or not) in my profession, I wear a lot of black shirts, so the black hose match the shirt and jacket and even pick up the black in my clergy tartan. I'm going out this afternoon to pick up some black garter ties to go with blue socks, but you know, maybe I'll get a pair of reds too if John has them in stock!

[piperdown]

One of the things I try to stress with my customers is that just because you start to wear the kilt, not everying in your wardrobe needs to match the kilt.

I usually try to coordinate my shirt and my hose. Or coordinate my flashes and my pocket square.

I let my kilt stand on its own.


I hear this same question over and over here in my shop. What color hose do I need to buy to match my kilt? What color jacket do I need to match my kilt?

My answer is usually something along the lines of;

What shirts do you have in your closet? Pick a hose color to coordinate with your existing shirts.
Build your outfit just as you would with a suit or as you do every other day.
This whole thing about everything in your wardrobe having to match your kilt is only a N. American thing. Scots don't try to match when they wear the kilt. In fact look at any photo of a wedding in Scotland. All the men will be in the similar jackets, shirts, and ties, but each one will be in 'his' Tartan. That looks perfectly fine and natural.
Just because you put on a kilt does not mean that you have to buy an entire closet full of new clothes just to match your new kilt.

I have kilts in 7 different Tartans. Not one of them is a Clan Tartan. I have Gray based Tartans, Blue based Tartans, Green based Tartans, But I pull the same clothes out of my closet for all my kilts.

Steve gave me the exact same advice when I went in to purchase a jacket. I wanted it to match with a couple of kilts. He is spot on in what he says but putting it to practice is hard. Trying to get out of that everything must match mentality is difficult.

[AFS1970]

Yup. I'ts been commented on that black is also becoming cliche - that's why the garters can really break the mold. Obviously (or not) in my profession, I wear a lot of black shirts, so the black hose match the shirt and jacket and even pick up the black in my clergy tartan. I'm going out this afternoon to pick up some black garter ties to go with blue socks, but you know, maybe I'll get a pair of reds too if John has them in stock!

OK at the risk of making a bad joke, if you were going to match your shirt and hose, wouldn't white flashes be appropriate? In a way they would be like the rarely seen anymore preaching tabs.

[OC Richard]

About "coordinating" shirt and hose, if you mean contrasting colours that coordinate, yes indeed.

Matching shirt and hose, on the other hand, sometimes works well and sometimes doesn't. Seems to me that usually it's a stronger overall effect if the jacket, shirt, hose, and kilt are all different colours, but somehow coordinate.

Having the hose and shirt match looks especially bad in pipe bands wearing waistcoats without jackets, longsleeved white shirts, and white hose. When on the march all the swinging long white arms and swinging long white legs really jump out at the eye and look like a chaotic mess. It's one of the reasons pipe bands wearing white hose look so much better in blue shirts.

In the photos I posted above, I think the Army uniform and my Isle of Skye outfit are stronger for having nothing match. In the bottom photo the grey hose and shirt make the Roxburgh kilt look more dull than it is- the danger of wearing hose too close in colour to one of the tartan's main colours.

Note that the Burgundy hose, not matching anything in the Isle of Skye tartan, allow the tartan's colours to shine out.

[Father Bill]

OK at the risk of making a bad joke, if you were going to match your shirt and hose, wouldn't white flashes be appropriate? In a way they would be like the rarely seen anymore preaching tabs.

Yes they would indeed... but although they'd look interesting, I don't think I'll do that.