All black: a safe choice?

**Blubbi** · 7th February 12, 03:54 AM

Black is right and looks great. I wear a black shirt with a blue tie and blue flashes and a saltire sporran very often. I think it looks great and is quite different to the hired kilt outfits of many others.

**gary meakin** · 7th February 12, 05:15 AM

Black is OK and indeed safe but I don't understand how just because you don't have the kilt in hand, you don't know what color it is?
Aside from various shades due to monitor and picture differences, I'd say you can tell what color the tartan is. I think you should be able to find things that match before hand.

**OC Richard** · 7th February 12, 06:06 AM

Coming from the Pipe Band scene, the all-black look is very popular now.

In the 1990s a trend swept through the Pipe Band scene, to make everything in the kit except the kilt itself either black or white.

Nearly all good competition bands worldwide went with black Glengarries, black Argyll jackets, black sporrans, and black bagcovers. Very often the neckties and flashes would be black as well. The hose and shirts were pure stark white.

I have a video of the World Pipe Band Championships from the 90s in which every single Grade One band is so dressed. (There was relative variey however in the drone cords: half the bands used black, half used white! And a couple bands took the daring step of wearing two-coloured mingled cords... black AND white!)

But in the last couple years a huge anti-white hose movement has taken place with most bands switching to black (or in some cases extremely dark blue or grey).

Many pipers for their solo kit are wearing all black: hose, flashes, sporran, jacket, shirt, necktie, and glengarry. Many are getting black kilts as well, plain black, "Black Isle" (a black-on-black tartan), and so forth.

I don't care for this trend, as it flies in the face of the traditional Highland love of colour and pattern.

Be bold in your choices of colour! Choose hose and shirt that don't match the kilt! It's the old Highland way.

My usual kilt is Isle of Skye. My favourite combination to wear with it is Burgundy hose and a royal blue shirt (neither colour appears in the tartan). It's precisely because those colours aren't in the kilt, and that they are bold colours, that the overall outfit looks so good.

**Piipriker** · 7th February 12, 09:30 AM

OT

Originally Posted by OC Richard

... And a couple bands took the daring step of wearing two-coloured mingled cords... black AND white!) ...

reminds me of the Blues Brothers movie
"Which kind of music do you usually play here?"
"Oh, we have both. Country AND Western!"

**Chas** · 7th February 12, 06:40 AM

Sorry, Màrtainn, I don't like black dress shirts - unless you are going to wear a contrasting and light tie with it. On their own - no.

Reminds me of a 'gangster wannabe'.

Sorry.

Regards

Chas

**sailortats** · 7th February 12, 06:52 AM

Many times I wear a black shirt and black hose with my Stewart ancient hunting kilt. See my avatar. I wear a silver grey tie with the shirt and red flashes with the hose. I seem to get more compliments when wearing this outfit than I do in any of my opther outfits. Admittedly it does look a little "Chicago gangsterish" but as long as I only wear my sgian dubh and no shotgun it works for me.

**Joshua** · 7th February 12, 06:59 AM

If you are just talking about your leather goods, all black is great (although, there really is no "traditional" highland precedent for matching leathers ala Saxon dress).

My favorite sporran is a flap sporran with brown leather front/flap and black leather sides. Because of this, I am able to get away with wearing it with whatever other accouterment I have, black leathers, brown leathers, etc...

If you are talking about all of your dress being black besides your kilt, you can do it, but personally a Ceilidh is a cheerful event, and Highland dress is a cheerful manner of dress that still maintains it's masculinity. I would personally take advantage. However, black shirt/hose with a red tie and red flashes might be nice (hmm... do I own a black shirt?).

However, I think McMurdo pulls off the look well in his last picture... as well one of my best friends pulled off an almost identical look at our Burns dinner this year, for some reason even looking as casual as he did, he was able to pull off a good look with the black shirt, no tie.

**pascs** · 7th February 12, 07:36 AM

This is my latest 'black' outfit which I think works pretty well

For those questions about wearing new brogues for dancing, I would wear them out and about a few times before hand and also try to soften the back of the heal area. I normally stick a fabric plaster on my heal at the same height as the top of the heal of the shoe when I first go dancing in new pair of shoes, helps to prevent any blisters which might distract you from your dancing

**auld argonian** · 7th February 12, 08:23 AM

I decided a while back to leave the black shirt at home...looks too much like you're in the Aberdeen Amateur Theatrical Society's production of Guys And Dolls.

Best

AA

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 7th February 12, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by auld argonian

I decided a while back to leave the black shirt at home...looks too much like you're in the Aberdeen Amateur Theatrical Society's production of Guys And Dolls.

Best

AA

***... I'd also suggest you might want to re-think wearing those thick-soled ghille brogues to a dance. While the ghillies are fine outdoors, they really don't do well on the dance floor; they are just that tad too heavy and clunky for any sort of elegant footwork.