Universal hose color?

[Guinness>water]

Hello all,
I am wondering if one color of hose would look decent with many different tartans for casual wear. I guess I'm not very exciting. I think it would be nice to just buy a bunch of one color and not worry about variety.

What do you think?

[Kilted Jeeper]

I have mostly modern tartans and I typically wear Navy or a Forest Green color. I am looking to add a pair of Oatmeal and Charcoal to the mix as well.

[Jock Scot]

A choice of two spring to mind. Lovat green, or, maroon. Either will suit your requirements if you insist on wearing more than one tartan.

[Hothir Ethelnor]

Lovat Green and Oatmeal are good choices.

[Jack Daw]

My first pair of hose were green. They seem pretty universal to me. Now, I tend to wear red quite a bit for informal. Oatmeal also works mostly.

[Ryan Ross]

Lovat green seems to be nearly universal, though there are a hand full of tartan types that it certainly wouldn't work with.

Oatmeal is a really good one for more casual settings, but I don't think you'd ever want to wear it with any sort of evening dress.

[fluter]

Lovat green hose with red ties/flashes is about the most universal there is.

I'm also coming to appreciate Jock Scot's choice of maroon. The only reason I don't yet have maroon hose is that my number one kilt is muted red. Might be a tiny bit much; but one of these days, we'll see!

[AFS1970]

Although at this point they are almost as cliched as white, I like black hose for many functions. They are also great at showing off lighter colored flashes. I got my first pair, trying to look more uniform for a color guard, but have grown to like them for other uses also.

[BoldHighlander]

I'd have to agree with the others on the Lovat Green & Oatmeal (or Bison) colours....Maroon is interesting, hadn't given much thought to that. I'd also add a Grey colour, in particular Charcoal Grey.

And perhaps a pair of Khaki (Green) military type from WPG, as seen on Mael Coluim in the Pith Helmets thread:



Oh, and if you go with a pair of Lovat Green / Oatmeal / or Grey hose, then red garters are about the only pair you'll need!

[The Wizard of BC]

One of the things I try to stress with my customers is that just because you start to wear the kilt, not everying in your wardrobe needs to match the kilt.

I usually try to coordinate my shirt and my hose. Or coordinate my flashes and my pocket square.

I let my kilt stand on its own.


I hear this same question over and over here in my shop. What color hose do I need to buy to match my kilt? What color jacket do I need to match my kilt?

My answer is usually something along the lines of;

What shirts do you have in your closet? Pick a hose color to coordinate with your existing shirts.
Build your outfit just as you would with a suit or as you do every other day.
This whole thing about everything in your wardrobe having to match your kilt is only a N. American thing. Scots don't try to match when they wear the kilt. In fact look at any photo of a wedding in Scotland. All the men will be in the similar jackets, shirts, and ties, but each one will be in 'his' Tartan. That looks perfectly fine and natural.
Just because you put on a kilt does not mean that you have to buy an entire closet full of new clothes just to match your new kilt.

I have kilts in 7 different Tartans. Not one of them is a Clan Tartan. I have Gray based Tartans, Blue based Tartans, Green based Tartans, But I pull the same clothes out of my closet for all my kilts.