Flashes question

[cavscout]

Marine Corps Service Uniforms incorporate Black with Brown (Olive)



Sharp, when done right.

[MacWage]

Marine Corps Service Uniforms incorporate Black with Brown (Olive)



Sharp, when done right.

EXACTLY!!!

When done RIGHT!

If not, it looks mis-matched. There needs to be a SPECIFIC rhyme and reason, so there is coordination. Otherwise, it looks like someone either doesn't know better or can't see. Ex-> brown shoes with an otherwise black suit.

Done well-> a black wool fedora with a brown leather band.

[Nanook]

Marine Corps Service Uniforms incorporate Black with Brown (Olive)



Sharp, when done right.

The uniforms are not brown but olive green which is a green and not a brown tone. They are also called, if I'm not mistaken, "Greens". Green, even olive, and black can go together. That is, however, not the urban, dress or ceremonial uniform. The "service uniform" is day wear where also brown shoes can be worn. That's also why the tone of such working uniforms has in the last 100+ years been selected from among earthy colours ranging from olive green to khaki.

The Marine Corp dress uniforms are blue.

Dress uniforms tend to use clean whites, crimsons, blues and yellows but rarely (I'm trying to think of one but can't) browns. Clothing with the colours of dirt and excrement might have some practical advantage in battlefields but hardly convey the semantics of a noble or well mannered gentleman. Brown shoes are fine (and I own quite a few pairs) but only in their context.

The only modern brown uniforms that come to mind are the brown shirts of fascists. They were (are) neither well mannered nor gentlemen. They were historically paramilitary formations and the clothing was for battle and to spit in the face of civil manners.

Etiquette is, of course, a strange beast. Even among formal occasions there is much more than just "Prince Charlie". Morning affairs or even formal tea calls for quite a different attire (and not day wear) from evening (where there are loads of sub-categories among black and white tie events). And even day wear is not always just day wear...

[cavscout]

I'm very aware of what the dress uniform of the Marine Corps is but I'm not sure what that has to do with the discussion.

Olive and Brown are close enough of a match for me to wear with black leathers.

As far as the original proposed outfit though, a picture of the vest would be very helpful to visualize the effect.

[Nanook]

I'm very aware of what the dress uniform of the Marine Corps is but I'm not sure what that has to do with the discussion.

We've sidetracked it a wee bit but the issue of colour coordination and semantics is not without significant relevance to the joys of a highland dandy :rolleyes:

Olive and Brown are close enough of a match for me to wear with black leathers.

Etiquette is also an issue of local custom. What works in Augusta does not always set well in Boston.

Many of the historical Confederate brown "butternut" uniforms of Georgia (to put things into local perspective) we see in the archives were not brown but a gray using dyes that did not stand well. They wore, however, mainly brown shoes so I guess the fading of Confederate gray was planned to match the homegrown butternut dyed uniforms in museum exhibits:rolleyes:

"Butternuts" did apparently also wear black shoes but most were, I've somewhere read, previously carried by Union feet.

Since we're on a side-step. Your sporran straps look quite spectacular (especially in brown tones for day wear). Here it is all about coordination since there is little chance, other than perhaps with black, that one can get a match. I suspect this might have been one of the reasons for chains in civilian garb--- although interestingly one of my day regimental sporrans has a matching chain and not a strap (predating much of the plastic straps). Black straps and a brown sporran? No thank you..

[Richland]

More on red flashes

Turpin who are those guys?
Was photo was taken in the US "those are standard US WWII baracks rows in the background. Did they have them in Canada also? the image is relatively current the vehicle in the background and the 2nd gent from the right has medern type glasses on. I'm curious.

[macwilkin]

Reenactors.

T.

[David Dalglish]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, If your think that a combination of Brown & Black works , then wear it. I am only giving my opinion, & I would not wear that combination, as I think they clash

[Nanook]

Reenactors.

T.

We need to be a bit careful seeing historical clothing through the eyes of reenactors. The "Renaissance Pleasure Faire" leaps to mind as an extreme example but even the pictures we've seen over the past few days don't quite jive with history.

When I first looked at the "Black Watch" picture I was quite confused since it seemed to contain contradictory patterns and styles but then seeing the pre-1945 got even more confused. The answer? It seems it was not a picture of someone of the 7th Battalion of Black Watch in WW-II but of a (hobby) reenactor. Do they know better? Perhaps but perhaps also its not that easy to find the right patterns in clothing that also fits. It might seem odd but today people are indeed a bit taller, much fatter and with larger heads than 60 odd years ago when a middle class flat with a built-in "refrigerator" meant there was a hole in a kitchen cupboard to let cold air from outside in...

[flairball]

Here is a pic of the vest. I'd wear it with a brown tie, off white kilt hose, and brown flashes. I might even consider breaking the "leather matching rule" and wearing brown shoes too.
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