Kilted cover German magazine

[Geoff Withnell]

You may be right about the sword. I thought he has his left hand on a dirk, still in its scabbard on the belt, but of course the dirk is normally worn on the right.

[OC Richard]

That "sash" is puzzling.

For one thing, it doesn't wrap all the way around, you can see that it ends just a bit past his shoulder on his back. It's just draped over his shoulder, and if he were to walk around it would fall off.

The other thing is that it appears to have pieces of matching red cloth sewn to it at various points. Bits of ribbon? Who can say.

I'm at a loss as to what it is, but for sure it's not anything normally seen with Highland Dress.

[Damion]

You may be right about the sword. I thought he has his left hand on a dirk, still in its scabbard on the belt, but of course the dirk is normally worn on the right.

I thought he was holding a dirk too but then I noticed he does have a dirk hanging down near his sporran.

[jhockin]

That "sash" is puzzling.

For one thing, it doesn't wrap all the way around, you can see that it ends just a bit past his shoulder on his back. It's just draped over his shoulder, and if he were to walk around it would fall off.

The other thing is that it appears to have pieces of matching red cloth sewn to it at various points. Bits of ribbon? Who can say.

I'm at a loss as to what it is, but for sure it's not anything normally seen with Highland Dress.

A photo of some pipers, at a recent Robert Burns run, in Ontario
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[WillowEstate]

Looking on the bright side, it's not a bad rendition of Eilean Donan Castle, the rest, as our Americah friends say, Meh!

[imrichmond]

A photo of some pipers, at a recent Robert Burns run, in Ontario

The band in the photo is a police service pipe band, as can be seen by the name on the bass drum. It is quite usual for pipe bands attached to semi-military organizations, like the police, to have their pipe major, pipe sergeant, drum sergeant and drum major wear the military red sash, which usually denotes a sergeant or warrant officer, even in non-highland regiments. In this photo, the piper wearing his sash from left to right is most likely the pipe major and the other piper, with the sash from right to left, would be the pipe sergeant. This type of sash is not normally worn outside the military and pipe bands wearing a military-style uniform and is quite different to the sash shown in the original posting photo.

When properly worn, the tassel of the military sash should hang at the hip. In this position, it is vulnerable to being shifted out of position when the pipe bag is pushed under the left arm into playing position. For this reason, although it is usual in the British military tradition to wear the sash from right to left, it is often worn left to right in pipe bands. I've noticed over the years that this practice varies from regiment to regiment.

[OC Richard]

Yes exactly, those sashes are badges of rank.

Usually scarlet worsted for Sergeants, crimson silk for certain senior Sergeants, and Officers.

Here's the Pipe Major of the Black Watch (Jim Anderson) well showing his crimson sash



A Pipe Sergeant of the Argylls showing the scarlet worsted sash

[Dollander]

I doubt those sashes were what inspired that cover. More likely it came from half-remembered images of great kilts and fly plaids, much like the Ren Faire kilts that led to the costumes in Braveheart, or those cheap Halloween costumes consisting of a pleated skirt with an attached sash (and a matching tam with built-in red hair ).

Hmm, something's missing. Shouldn't he have, like, a matching sash, or...?

Well, we don't have any more tartan fabric. But the kilt's predominantly red, so how about this red scarf?

Perfect!

[tokareva]

May I take this opportunity to change the subject briefly and ask a question about something I have seen before? What causes the kilt to be lower in the back sometimes? Is it normal, most seem to be even? Is there a way to prevent this from happening?


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[Tarheel]

There are a few answers to your question about the length of the back of a kilt tokareva. The first is the kilt could be made by a generic pattern that is not specific to the person wearing it. Another reason is the lack of "ample meat" in the physique of the person. Lastly, a kilt with any weight will slide down onto the hips during movement (like piping, marching, etc).

I think in the case of the photo, the kilt is larger than the young man's shape.