Familiarity Breeds Contempt

[Teufel Hunden]

McElmurry,

And he's wearing those dreadful ghillies too!

Serious question, I've been unable to get a grasp of this just reading the forum:

What's the deal with ghillies?

[Spartan Tartan]

Serious question, I've been unable to get a grasp of this just reading the forum:

What's the deal with ghillies?

My comment was a joke. I own a pair myself... There are those that don't care for them. Others have coined that phrase. Maybe I need to improve my typing sarcasm or improve my use of smiles

But I don't really know what the real problem is with Gillies. I think they look just fine. I don't much bother with what people wear for hose and footwear. I appreciate their styles and how they wear their outfit.

[longhuntr74]

Serious question, I've been unable to get a grasp of this just reading the forum:

What's the deal with ghillies?

There are several member who dislike Ghillie Brogues...one among them being our esteemed "Jock Scot." Not to speak for Jock or the others, but I think the general feeling by those that don't like them is that the common footwear of your average Scot is the standard brogue...and many people improperly wear ghillies to functions where they are inappropriate...such as black tie and white tie events where they should be wearing buckle brogues or some other form of formal flat.

I personally have nothing against ghillies...I think they look swell around the highland games and whatnot...but from a practical standpoint, I prefer to buy standard brogues so that I can use them with pants OR my kilt.

[Teufel Hunden]

My comment was a joke. I own a pair myself... There are those that don't care for them. Others have coined that phrase. Maybe I need to improve my typing sarcasm or improve my use of smiles

But I don't really know what the real problem is with Gillies. I think they look just fine. I don't much bother with what people wear for hose and footwear. I appreciate their styles and how they wear their outfit.

I knew it was a joke, so no worries there. I've just seen people being seriously critical about them in the past and was curious what fer.

There are several member who dislike Ghillie Brogues...one among them being our esteemed "Jock Scot." Not to speak for Jock or the others, but I think the general feeling by those that don't like them is that the common footwear of your average Scot is the standard brogue...and many people improperly wear ghillies to functions where they are inappropriate...such as black tie and white tie events where they should be wearing buckle brogues or some other form of formal flat.

I personally have nothing against ghillies...I think they look swell around the highland games and whatnot...but from a practical standpoint, I prefer to buy standard brogues so that I can use them with pants OR my kilt.

Ah, it makes sense if it's a formality issue then.


Sorry to throw your thread off track a bit Xman, but as it turns out, the ghillies might fall into the same category as white socks.

[OC Richard]

I don't care for that at all! A "dress" tartan, white hose, dirk belt peeking out from under the waistcoat, informal sporran, buckle-less ghillies, kilt pin worn too low and crookedly...

I was playing in pipe bands c1980 when the "arran knit" offwhite/natural hose became all the rage, and also c1990 when the dreaded stark white bobbletop/popcorn top piper's socks became all the rage. How white hose became standard for Evening Dress, I just don't understand. It never would have done in the old days.

When time for my marriage I opted for coloured hose, blue.



About ghillies, they show up in the 1860s in The Highlanders of Scotland, usually in tan leather, worn with outdoor dress. At that time they evidently were viewed as somewhat rustic.

By the 1920s ghillies had moved indoors, black, with nonfunctional decorative buckles affixed, and worn with Evening Dress. At this time ordinary shoes were usually worn with Outdoor Dress. (For Evening Dress, buckled ghillies never seem to have been nearly as popular as Mary Jane style buckle shoes and slip-on loafer style buckle shoes, and the military always used the latter styles for Levee dress and Mess dress, never the ghillies.) In my old Highland Dress catalogues the ghillies worn with Evening Dress always have buckles affixed, never plain.

Pipers, however, had always had a penchant for ghillies, and you see pipers wearing them both with outdoor dress and formal dress from the 1860s up to today, in the old days often with buckles affixed.

In any case the modern notion of Evening Dress = Prince Charlie + white hose + buckle-less ghillies has always struck me as a bit odd.

[Jock Scot]

I suppose I had better chip in. I am from a generation that rarely saw ghillie brogues in our formative years, in fact the first time I saw a pair being worn was in the late 1950's I am afraid to say I laughed long and loud. I know this sounds dreadfully snooty, but ever since I have regarded them as footwear for dancers and/or, almost a sure sign of kilt hire. For general kilt wear------and don't forget we wore(still do) the kilt regularly for normal day wear in pretty rural surroundings------those ghillie things were and still are totally impractical.But if you want to parade around thinking "I am being a real Highlander" whilst walking into the cinema, or some such, with those most useless bits of footwear that any one could dream up on your feet, then do carry on.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Is anyone familiar with seeing White hose at other formal occasions, state dinner, tartan balls, Robbie Burns Day? Am I wrong in my impressions?

At last year's Tartan Ball in Washington DC only about 25% of the gentlemen were wearing white hose, down from about 30% last year. The pleasantly surprising thing was the number of gentlemen in diced hose-- eleven, by actual count.

[Nighthawk]

I'll bet no one complains about the white socks in there!!!

There were socks being worn?

...oh yeah... There they are...

As to the ghillie brogue issue... What Jock said!

[McElmurry]

Each time someone walks out into public in a kilt they leave an impression on those that view them. Ideally that impression is positive and the place of the kilt in modern society is enhanced. Sometimes the kilt is not worn well and a negative impression is left. Marketers tell us it takes many (perhaps dozens) of positive impressions to overcome one negative impression. In order to promote the kilt in general members of this forum try to make suggestion that help folks leave good impressions. This promotes wider acceptance of the kilt and we all benefit whether we go clubbing in leather or hill walking in tweed.

In my opinion, and within the context stated above, white hose have no impact. That is they don’t clash nor do they look smart. There are many things a kilted man could do that would look much worse. Until someone comes on the forum and says “I would like to replace my light colored hose, what are some good colors that go with McOnion ancient?” there is not much we can do for them. What we can do is complement folks who post photos with nice hose combinations. The noobies will eventually get the idea when they are ready to go to the next level.

[Cowher]

If he is insistent on wearing ecru hose at least push him towards the Jannette Murray Aran hand knit hose.
As far as white or ecru hose becoming traditional. I think it could be on it's way, but the fact that we are debating the issue tells me it's not quite there yet. Yet I do have to side with xman over nighthawk. Even if the subject was not part of the original way if it becomes so widely used it becomes a tradition and therefor traditional. For example when Christianity was first starting Jesus and his apostles didn't use imagery or icons in worship. In fact they spoke against such things but not long after the last Apostle died the use of icon became common place. I am sure everyone here will agree the use of icons or imagery is traditional in Christianity. sorry I don't mean to start a religious discussion it's just the example that came to my mind.