Question about hose

[KWD]

I am wondering why people don't like the white hose?

[McMurdo]

One reason is because the rental places use white hose so it follows if you are wearing them your outfit must be rented. If you look at the Kenneth MacLeay prints for example there is not a pair of white hose to be seen, take a look through the Vintage Kilt Photos thread you will not see many if any white hose.

White hose have gained in popularity because they are cheap to produce, however with the myriad of colours available I simply do not know why anyone would settle for white hose, they seem to me to be rather stark and do not lend themselves very well to Highland Dress as it is rather colourful.

[Nighthawk]

White hose have gained in popularity because they are cheap.

That's all you need to know. They look cheap. I have one pair that I wear around the house. I wore them out by mistake, and was very self conscious! They stick out in a very... well, as McMurdo put it, stark way!

[Riverkilt]

In fairness, there is a use for white kilt hose other than rental...SNOW CAMO!!

[lethearen]

Please correct me if I'm wrong... historically speaking pure white was a difficult colour to obtain, wasn't it? That is to say, two hundred years ago it may have been cheaper to dye wool in various colours rather than bleach them. If that were the case, then white would also be a faux pas from a traditionalist standpoint?

[McMurdo]

white would also be a faux pas from a traditionalist standpoint?

That is why I suggested looking in the Vintage thread and at the MacLeay prints. It most certainly is a faux pas from a traditionalist standpoint.

[RockyR]

When you bleach wool, it turns yellow, not white.

What say you all on hand knit (cable knit) cream hose? Those are my preferred hose (when no colored hose match my kilt) and they are certainly not cheap in construction, nor cost.

[kiltedwolfman]

Depending on the outfit I think white hose can be quite striking. Perhaps the stigma of white hose = cheap could be lifting by some crafty dressmanship? ( is dressmanship a real word? It sounds real, looks real, could even carry a real meaning! Quick, dictionary come to me!!)

[McMurdo]

When you bleach wool, it turns yellow, not white.

What say you all on hand knit (cable knit) cream hose? Those are my preferred hose (when no colored hose match my kilt) and they are certainly not cheap in construction, nor cost.

Rocky, I was talking about the machine made type, not hand knitted hose. Hand knitted hose in any colour is just fine.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I don't like white (or off-white) color hose very much for a couple of reasons. One is that they are more difficult to keep clean and tend to "show their age" much more quickly than other colors.

Another is that they do (as someone else has also noted) tend to look rather stark.

But the primary reason why I choose not to wear white hose is that nearly every kilt wearer under the sun these days wears white or off-white as the standard, and with so many possible color options available, why limit myself to white or off-white? There are so many other colors that really add to the richness of any kilt outfit.