Brown for Day, Black for Night

[Nanook]

I don't know how many of you believe what is said in the book SO YOUR GOING TO WEAR THE KILT!, but in their it does state that brown is for day wear and black is for more fomal wear. With that in mind, I hate brown so I wear black all the time.

Rather than brown for day wear the general rule has been no brown for formal or evening wear and no brown for the city, viz. brown, if at all, for day wear. Brown shoes do not, I must add, match well to blue hose or dominantly blue tartans or tweeds. Shoes and sporrans should be also darker than the kilt and hose with the exception of white. Black shoes and sporrans, by contrast, can go well with dominantly brown tartans or tweeds. The standard sporran, for instance, of the Irish regiments for their brown "saffron" kilts is black patent leather (which is about the only leather suitable for evening).
I don't see the need to match shoes to sporran and the traditional style in the Scottish regiments has been to match brown day sporrans with black shoes. Important, however, is to match belt, should one wear one, to sporran.

[Bugbear]

And in my own defence, I will point out that I can't just look at what I'm wearing and tell if it all goes together well. I have to memorize all the color coordination guidelines, so it doesn't work for me to not worry about which colors I'm wearing, in this case the shoes and belts etc. It doesn't matter to me if people wear brown shoes, black belts, purple hose, green sporran, a brown shirt, and a gray jacket all at the same time... I'm only worrying about what colors I'm wearing and whether they look all right.

Nanook can worry about the rest.

[JolyStNicholas]

I'm not a fashion setter,nor do I try to swim up stream, but personally I

don't care for BROWN on me person. Never have, so everything I have is

BLACK. Does that make me a Rogue or somethin of the sort?

[ShaunMaxwell]

I wear a brown belt, sporran, sporran strap and shoes for daywear, but with open silver buckles, as it's kind of hard to get all various buckles, decorative sporran bits and kilt pins, etc. in brass. Plus silver looks better with my clan tartan.

[sydnie7]

[snip] Brown shoes do not, I must add, match well to blue hose or dominantly blue tartans or tweeds. [snip]

See now, to me, brown leathers look lovely with many blue fabrics for a daywear look. So, to each his own, as many have said in various ways.

[KFCarter]

Brown belts, sporrans and sporran belts can be found at:

Oconee Leather works at oconeeleatherworks.com
Wyvern Leather works at www.wyvernleatherworks.com
Scottish Tartan Museum at www.scottishtartans.org (use the gift shop link)
Janet Eagleton's shop in Scotland at www.scottish-sporrans.co.uk

Great folks and great products.

Brown ghillies:
I know Mackenzie Frain has them at www.mackenziefrain.com (I haven't dealt with this site)
And there's another place I spotted them, but I'll have to look it up on my home computer
But I think you can go with something less formal than ghillies for daywear as long as shoe style seems in keeping to you.


Good hunting

[ForresterModern]

I found tan ghillie brogues at (gasp) Heritage of Scotland dot com, the dreaded Gold Bros web site, but they were a perfict fit, plastic soles which flex and wear well, and they look as good as my higher priced black ones. They are fairly light so I may at some time want to darken up the leather a bit.

You can also get Brown belts, sporran straps, and sporran hangers, with brass metal fittings, etc..., at Scottish Trading Company, another of the xmarks advertisers.

[The Barry]

To avoid this problem, I just wear all black leather accessories. Black leather works fine for daywear, and if all of your sporrans, belts, and shoes are the same color of leather, you cam mix and match to dial in your level of formality.

Plus, I don't look good in brown, that might have something to do with it.

[Mael Coluim]

What Price Glory carries a nice Brown day sporran with belt for $25.



Right, I was wearing black shoes!