Not a piper but like the look of a horse hair sporran

[OC Richard]

Yes looking through The Highlanders of Scotland, one can see a tendency of wearing sporrans with little or no metal with grey or brown tweed jackets.

Here are some of these







A sporran sort of having this "feel", made in 1938, came up on Ebay a while back



I might point out that the OR sporrans of The Black Watch and The Cameron Highlanders had no metal save for the badge

[Tobus]

Currently in the Army there's a tendency to trim the bottom straight across, which I don't care for

I agree. A straight, flat cut across the bottom of a hair sporran tends to make it look like a broom. It seems to lack any imagination or style. My horse hair sporran is cut that way, and I would really like to give it some shape (I too like the scraggly look), but I'm terrified of doing it.

I also wonder if many of the old scraggly sporrans we see may once have been cut straight, and just been worn down over time. It seems that when they have that scraggly look, it's usually accompanied by some discolouration of the hair, especially towards the bottom. So perhaps the scraggly look is partially just a function of use and abuse?

For me, one of the biggest things about hair sporrans for day wear (and not looking like a piper or member of the RRS) is a leather cantle.

Absolutely! Hair sporrans with metal cantles look very dressy, where leather cantles give them a more outdoorsy-casual image. Or, perhaps I should say, leather cantles are more suited to double-duty as casual or dressy, since they can look good for both. And tassels have a lot to do with it too. Note that some of the sporrans painted by MacLeay (as illustrated above by OC Richard) lack tassels altogether. The less ornate it is, the more it lends itself towards a more rugged casual daywear look. In my eyes, anyway, even if our native Scots are rolling their eyes at the very idea.

One option you don't see very often is a leather flap rather than a cantle. This allows you to have a full pouch sporran instead of just a tiny pocket on the back. My horse hair sporran is built this way, but I still use it for dressy occasions as shown below. This is not an entirely traditional Highland look, but it can be pulled off quite well if you're with people who don't know any better.

[CMcG]

I agree. A straight, flat cut across the bottom of a hair sporran tends to make it look like a broom. It seems to lack any imagination or style. My horse hair sporran is cut that way, and I would really like to give it some shape (I too like the scraggly look), but I'm terrified of doing it....

I don't think the straight cut bottom is quite as bad as you say but rather that it is just more reminiscent of a regimental, uniform look. I've been tempted to try trimming the bottom of mine for a softer, more layered, possibly more civilian look... I'm also scared of messing it up though, so maybe I should bring it to my girlfriend's mom, who is a hairdresser

This is not an entirely traditional Highland look, but it can be pulled off quite well if you're with people who don't know any better.

Let's hope no-one delates you to those who do know better, because they'd be aghast at the way you're doing things that "just aren't done" In all seriousness, that is quite a unique look. It has a generally traditional feel, but there's some older, historic touches, and your own modern individuality too.

I like how the leather cantle and long neck tie combination dress down what could otherwise be a very formal outfit. The mess jacket is still a black tie level item, though, and the argyle hose add to that impression. What type of event (i.e. what dress code) would you wear that outfit for?

[Tobus]

Let's hope no-one delates you to those who do know better, because they'd be aghast at the way you're doing things that "just aren't done" In all seriousness, that is quite a unique look. It has a generally traditional feel, but there's some older, historic touches, and your own modern individuality too.

I like how the leather cantle and long neck tie combination dress down what could otherwise be a very formal outfit. The mess jacket is still a black tie level item, though, and the argyle hose add to that impression. What type of event (i.e. what dress code) would you wear that outfit for?

I took that photo over a year ago for the specific purpose of getting critique here on the forum, and believe me when I say there was plenty. It was actually a very good learning experience for levels of dress (of which I was largely ignorant), and you are correct that this falls into none of them! The mess jacket was my grandfather's, and I was looking for advice on how to cobble together an outfit around it.

The event was my step-daughter's evening wedding, where I was the only one in a kilt (and indeed most folks there had never seen a kilt before). I ended up wearing that outfit, but with a black bow tie and a 'formal' shirt with French cuffs but no tuxedo pleats on the front. Ideally, for that level of dress, a cantle sporran would be worn. But at the time I did not own any sporrans with cantles. And even now, the only cantle I own is a brass MoD cantle which would have a hard time rising to the level of black tie evening wear. But I have thought about building a horse hair sporran for the MoD cantle, just to see how it turns out. I think it would look smashing with a silver-plated MoD cantle like Harold's.

At any rate, disregarding the odd pairing of accessories in my experimental outfit above, my point was to show that even a horse hair sporran with a leather flap or cantle can look OK when dressed up, so long as you're not around people who nit-pick the details. The wearing of a long hair sporran itself tends to make a statement.

[gradhlass]

It'll be interesting to see how it looks on you....if it ever arrives!!!!!