Civilian Spats

[The Thirsty Viking]

Thirsty Viking, you look great in those. I am not sure how far up the formality scale you could take them, but you look quite at home in them as pictured.

I am not worried about the formality scale for these particular gaiters. These are my knock around, rough necking gaiters.

I do have a pair of white canvas spats that I will wear only for formal occasions. I know some would say not to, but frankly, I like them, I feel sharp in them, and I have never been one to really give a second thought to others opinion.

But thats me. What works for me may not work for another. I have always held to the belief " 'Cool' is what you deem it to be".

[Thor271]

I know some would say not to, but frankly, I like them, I feel sharp in them

I like the look of Spats myself. I think that they can look very sharp, and plan to wear a pair at my wedding.

[AKScott]

No, Scott. I think he's got you on a technicality. I'm pretty sure it should have said "no less than five". In fact, though, you have found less than five excuses.

I think I wagered (as intended) that MacMillan would not wear spats more than four times in two years if we provided him a free pair. If both a Scot and an American think I have lost the wager (seperated by a common language) I will send off $60 to the Wounded Warriors. If an American agrees I would have won the wager I'll send ten bucks to the Wounded Warriors as a gesture of good faith.


Odd about matching gaiter/ hose color. In post #6 this thread MoR quoted from his library:

Loudon McQueen Douglas in his book, THE KILT (published in 1914), when describing proper day dress, has this to say about gaiters:

"Footwear should consist of thick soled brogues with gaiters to match the stockings."

But only one of the pictures in this thread so far, the third image of Harry Lauder in post one shows gaiters matching or nearly matching hose color.

An interesting weekend diversion this thread. I have some more spring cleaning to undertake now that my gaiters are off my cold weather boots.

[AKScott]

I like the look of Spats myself. I think that they can look very sharp, and plan to wear a pair at my wedding.

I am sure it can be done and done well by a large number of people here.

[CMcG]

I could be wrong, but I would think spats were originally intended to keep the hose from getting wet or snagged when walking through the countryside, since roads were not very well developed in the Highlands back then. Nothing more than a utilitarian function.

As roads and transportation became more modern, the use of spats went away. Some people clung to them out of a sense of tradition, but that eventually waned.
<snip>

This sounds like a plausible reason for the use and eventual disappearance of higher cut gaiters, especially in the countryside. And you would know their value, given your personal experience with them!

Just my 2 cents, but I'd put the ubiquity of spats among the well-heeled in the 18th and 19th centuries (and their extinction in the 20th,) down to one cause; the amount of horse manure in city streets (and we think we have 'vehicle exhaust' problems!)

The cost of replacing/cleaning spats would be so much less than than replacing/cleaning shoes that got a load of exhaust down in the laces, tongue and ankle areas.

Another plausible answer. Your categorization of "exhaust" is priceless!

I like the look of Spats myself. I think that they can look very sharp, and plan to wear a pair at my wedding.

I am sure it can be done and done well by a large number of people here.

<snip>
I personally love the look, and don't mind the hassle of lacing up gaiters or leggings. I wish they would come back into style.

As for a spats/gaiters revival, there are indeed a few people who wear them. Definitely not THCD, though I find it interesting that spats are sort of extinct but other aspects of historical Highland attire have survived to become traditional. The sgian dubh and full mask sporran come to mind as being very old school and yet still current.


We have already seen The Thirsty Viking's style but I rounded up a couple other pics through Google.

Fellow Xmarker Casper:



A chap who got married in his Utilikilt:

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

London, in 1890, had approximately 300,000 "working" horses on the streets (10,000+ drawing trams); with each horse dropping between 15 and 35 pounds of manure daily -- roughly 7.5 million pounds -- the streets were something of a mess. Gentlemen would "turn up" their cuffs when traversing the streets on foot, and every doorway was graced with a cast iron "boot scrape"-- often with built in brushes on the sides-- to clean muck off boots.

[SlackerDrummer]

Gentlemen would "turn up" their cuffs when traversing the streets on foot, and every doorway was graced with a cast iron "boot scrape"-- often with built in brushes on the sides-- to clean muck off boots.

One of the original boot scrapes at my house (built in 1896) is right next to the front steps. I've got to repair the one that goes by the back entrance.

And of course spats were to keep that muck from the part of the shoes you had to touch with your hands (the laces).

[Tobus]

While I'm sure spats might help keep horse manure off the laces and hose, I doubt that had anything to do with their original intent. After all, spats didn't originate in London. Am I correct in stating that Scotland, and especially the Highlands, was never a place where horses were predominant like they were in the rest of Europe? From all I've read, there weren't a lot of horses used in Scotland.

Having horses myself (and being one who has cleaned up horse manure for many years, not only in my barn but also from draft horses when we would pull carriages in town), I have to say that horse manure is not nearly as messy as some might believe. It won't stick to your shoe like manure from other animals. As livestock goes, horses are pretty tidy poopers! The worst you'll get from walking through fresh horse manure is a thin film of wetness on your shoes or a few stray pieces of digested hay that fall off when they dry. Horse manure also dries fairly quickly into 'road apples' that you can pick up and crumble between your fingers.

To many modern city dwellers, it may seem gross. And living where I do, where people still ride horses in town, I always get a kick out of seeing tourists performing grandiose panic-stricken antics to avoid stepping near (or driving through) horse manure. But I am pretty confident that the common person in the era we're talking about would have thought nothing of it. My boots get dirtier walking through mud or wet grass than they do from stepping in horse manure. In fact, the larger threat of their day would have been the HUMAN excrement in the streets. That is most likely what would have filled Scottish streets rather than horse manure, I'll wager.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

While I'm sure spats might help keep horse manure off the laces and hose, I doubt that had anything to do with their original intent. After all, spats didn't originate in London. Am I correct in stating that Scotland, and especially the Highlands, was never a place where horses were predominant like they were in the rest of Europe? From all I've read, there weren't a lot of horses used in Scotland.

Horses, and in this general category I'm including ponies, were widely encountered throughout most of Scotland, although less so in the more rugged Highlands. Prior to the railroads almost everything was moved by horse and cart, and that included the transportation of goods in Scotland. A gentleman in a Scottish town or city would experience the same "under foot" problems as his counterpart in London, or Paris, or New York, and would have worn spats-- kilted or not.

Spats evolved from gaiters, which were commonly worn by gentlemen in the late 18th/early 19th century to protect either their trousers or stockings from becoming soiled when walking any distance, or if astride a horse. These gaiters, which originally would have reached above the knee in the manner of military spatterdashes, slowly became reduced in size until three sizes became the norm; those reaching to the knee (as still worn by some bishops, arch deacons, and rural deans), those rising to the calf (as worn by kilted soldiers in Scottish regiments), and those which rise only to the ankle and are worn by civilians and soldiers in Scottish regiments that wear trews instead of kilts, and are commonly referred to as "spats".

In the 19th/20th century spats performed an admirable function insofar as they protected the soft leather upper portion of expensive shoes from becoming muddy, or wet. As high button shoes went out of fashion, so too did spats as they no longer served a useful purpose.

[Bugbear]

* Never mind, off topic. *