Wonderful Play Dress-up Photo

[OC Richard]

As many members here know, I love collecting old photos of men in Highland Dress.

It's nearly always immediately obvious whether an old photo is a portrait of a man accustomed to wearing Highland Dress on a regular basis posing in his own clothes, or whether it's a "play dress-up" photo, where the photographer's studio has a collection of costumes and props for people to pose in. Often the men are US servicemen on leave in Scotland and alcohol is presumably involved.

I usually pass on the "play dress-up" photos but once in a while one is rather intertaining. It's interesting sometimes to see how many different things are mixed up, and/or how strangely they are being worn.

I just came across this one. It makes for an interesting "kilt-spotter's" exercise to make a sort of a list of all the different oddities.

How many strange things can you spot?

[RAF]

While I have no concept of the specific conventions of what particular item is to be worn with what (and so will not even make any guesses to "oddities") I will say that, at the very least, the individual garments seem to fit properly, no? I'm interested to see what these fellows 'mistakes' are.

[Tobus]

I'm curious too. Aside from being a bit of a cheesy photo, obviously staged in a studio, their outfits seem to fit well and they're wearing them properly (to my untrained eye). Maybe the fellow on the right could have worn his hair sporran a wee bit lower, and their baldrics look like they're worn a little too far to the front, but other than that, I don't see any huge glaring issues. Whether the combinations are correct with tartan and uniform parts, I wot not.

[MacLowlife]

Dirk belts OVER baldrics? The gent on our right seems to have a pleat in an unusual spot. I am not convinced the man on the left could walk far in his outfit. His kilt looks off, somehow, and the collar on his tunic is surprisingly loose. I would not be surprised if he were turned around to reveal a handful of clothespins holding everything in place. I am pretty sure that same guy's sporran is mismatched.

[Tobus]

Dirk belts OVER baldrics?

Hey, I just asked that question the other day in this thread and was shown plenty of examples of it being done both ways (over and under the baldric). Military regs seem to show the baldric going over the belt, but I've no clue if that was the policy back when this photo was taken. But given the numerous examples I've seen elsewhere, having the belt over the baldric here doesn't seem out of the ordinary.

[English Bloke]

No denying they're having a laugh doing it.

[Nick the DSM]

They're smiling...who smiles in pictures???

They look to be in more military/pipe band uniforms with horsehair sporrans while the other has a fur. Spats on the outer two.

Those are the only things that my eye caught.

[brewerpaul]

Coytenlly!! its McMoe, McLarry, McCurley Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk!!

Great photo, quite fun.

[creagdhubh]

Great photo! I think the chaps look fine and are obviously having a good time!

[OC Richard]

Yes it's the mixing up of military and civilian things that first hits the eye, and makes the "dress-up" nature obvious. A vintage photo of a military man would show pure military kit, while a vintage photo of a civilian usually shows pure civilian dress. (The exception being civilian pipe bands wearing military-style kit, who often have actual military items mixed in.)

So, fellow #1 (as I shall call him, the guy on the left) and fellow #2 (centre) are wearing military doublets but civilian bonnets, evidently Lovat green or summat. (Military bonnets are nearly always a very dark blue, nearly black.) In addition #1 is wearing a civilian Pine Marten sporran.

Fellow # 3 has military bearing, has his Glengarry cocked at just the right angle. His doublet is scarlet with yellow or buff facings and could plausibly go with his Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Glengarry. So had I come across a single portrait of him it would have taken a second glance to see the "dress-up" nature of the photo.

But he's wearing a Gordon Highlanders sporran, and a civilian tartan. Fellow #2 is the one wearing an Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders sporran. This mixing of various regiments' kit is another hallmark of these photos. And no cap badge on the Glengarry.

A further thing is that fellow #2 and #3 are wearing black dirk belts and crossbelts with scarlet doublets, while in the military such belts are worn by pipers, who wear dark doublets (Archer Green or an extremely dark blue depending on regiment).

Finally, did anyone notice that fellow #1 has his hosetops on backwards?