White Kilt Hose

[Spartan Tartan]

As far as I know, the Scots are British I understand the issue to not be about the flat cap itself, as many Scots are known to wear them, ...just not with the kilt.

I too may be corrected though.

Touché

[Phil]

I always enjoy a good white hose 'rammy'* (as we say in this part of the world) and this opportunity to round off the year is not one to be missed. Not coming from a background where your dress was prescribed by a written code and where even your very thoughts were regimented in a particular direction, I have had the luxury of forming my own choices as to what I wear and how I wear it. White, although not strictly defined to be a colour, is, nevertheless, generally regarded as such. That any one individual should then decide that one particular colour from the spectrum of shades available must on no account be worn surely belies belief but that is the fact that we all must face.
I think we all now know that old story about the kilt-hire companies foisting white hose upon us as a cheap option, although I do recall kilt-hire in the 1960's coming with tartan hose (and a shoulder plaid). The only assumption I can make from this is that wearing white (or off-white) hose smacks to the beholder as the wearer being a cheapskate who can't afford his own outfit and that the beholder may condescendingly look down upon such a tainted individual in the way that such snobs have done since time immemorial. We can imagine stone age man looking down upon his neanderthal neighbour because the animal skin wrapped around him was too short or some other feature allowed him to feign superiority over another human being. It is human nature after all - Burns wrote of it in 'The man's a man for a that' and everyone will have experienced it at some time or another.
I think what I am trying to say is that every individual should have the freedom to make their own choices as to how they dress and that no-one has the right to criticise their choice provided that it does not offend the generally accepted standards of decency within society. I can well imagine the type of reaction certain individuals might display at someone in white hose not being 'one of us' or 'who let the hoi-polloi in' but that is a deficiency in their character and outlook and not one I could ever espouse. So there you have it

*rammy (Scots) - a free-for-all, a disturbance, scuffle

[Kilted Karl]

I am sorry If I offended anyone in regards to the flatcap (although to one commented on the pith helmet ith. I just chose articles of clothing and stye that have been topics of interesting discussions in threads I have stumbled upon. I hope the intended humor was evident to all.

Your Obedient Servant,

Karl

[Phil]

I am sorry If I offended anyone in regards to the flatcap (although to one commented on the pith helmet ith.

It is quite possible to have an argument in an empty room here although I do think we guessed you were just taking the 'pith'.

[OC Richard]

Being a kilt-wearer since the mid 1970s, I've observed three phases of this thing that might be called the White Hose Era.

Back in the 70s it was usually tartan or diced hose for Evening Dress, and selfcoloured/solid/plain hose for Day Dress. Mass-produced machine-knit plain hose usually came in such colours as Lovat Blue, Lovat Green, Oatmeal, and Cream/offwhite. I probably have some catalogues from that time which would show all the standard colours then available.

This notion of tartan/diced hose for Evening and plain for Day can easily traced back to numerous Highland Dress catalogues from the 1920s through the 1950s.

1) machine-knit cream hose: In any case, then in the 70s I began seeing men wear the cream hose for Evening Dress and Pipe Band dress. It never looked quite "right" to me. I had never cared for that colour for Day Dress either.

2) then around 1980 there came a huge fad amongst Pipe Bands to wear heavy hand-knit cream Aran hose. Boy, if you didn't have those you were really out of the loop! A few bands went with colours other than cream, but the vast majority wore cream. These also became popular with Evening Dress (in which these very outdoors-looking hose never looked "right" to me either).

3) finally around 1990 the Pipe Band world embraced a new fad: stark-white hose with a plain body but bulky turnover cuff, called "popcorn top" hose or "bobble top" hose. For over a decade nearly every single band at the Worlds etc wore these. The heavy bobble top was often made as a seperate piece which was worn over cheap plain stark white hose. These too were to be seen in civilian Evening Dress, and at least had the advantage of not looking dingy like the cream hose did.

A more recent development are the so-called "piper socks" (made by St Kilda etc) which are made very long, and are folded over two or three times at the top. You can fold them various ways to make them longer or shorter, more or less bulky. Nearly all Pipe Bands wear these now, though black and navy have ousted white as the most popular colours.

I for one am happy that the Cream and White Hose Eras are over. The pure white hose did look crisp and smart with a pipe band, and didn't clash with any kilt colours, and in many ways are more attractive than the black hose now nearly universally worn. I would prefer if bands would start venturing into coloured hose (bright blue, claret, red, etc) but they seem to be stuck into a rut of white, black, grey, or extremely dark blue.

[Panache]

#4


http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...estions-68680/




Cheers

Jamie

[creagdhubh]

I love white kilt hose - when they become splattered with so much dirt, mud, and heath, that they turn a nice tannish-brown.

Cheers,

[ForresterModern]

I am sorry If I offended anyone in regards to the flatcap .

Don't be. They deserve it, at least those of us not afraid to wear a flat cap (tartan or no) with a kilt once in a while feel that way. Don't worry about Jock Scot and his nitroglycerin, he should be getting used to using it when he starts reading my posts in particular. He is a good sport about it and should be able to stand it at least a couple more decades.

Personally, I have a beautiful pair of white bobble top piper's hose that I believe looked stunning when I wore them in full evening dress with my Argyll to my first "formal" dinner event in Edinburgh nearly 4 years ago. I would probably wear them in a similar situation again, except that, as many have said, there are so many more interesting colors and patterns about that the white have made their Darwinian natural selection migration to the bottom of the sock drawer where they will probably reside for a long period.

[Tobus]

I for one am happy that the Cream and White Hose Eras are over.

Hmm, I'm not so sure they're over. Waning, maybe, but not over. About half the pipe bands I see down here in Texas are still wearing white popcorn-top hose.

[Zardoz]

I was watching the St. Thomas’ Episcopal school pipe band one time, sitting with some of the band parents. And I mentioned that I liked how they wore charcoal piper hose instead of white like many bands do. One of the mothers told me they wore white for a while, but changed because so many of the mothers complained about not being able to keep the hose clean and white!