The Ghillie Shirt

[CollinMacD]

I don't think people really thought that's what "cowboys" looked like. The LR was a masked superhero, riding in to save the day with his loyal sidekick. Pretty sure even kids understood the difference between the Lone Ranger, other movie & TV cowboys, and working cowboys.

Except for cavalry soldiers -- especially air cav. Those guys are notoriously hard to train. ;)

Actually, the mountain men who settled the west in the early 1700's through the early 1800's did have deer skin or buckskin pullover shirts that laced up in the front, with fringes on the sleeve so water could drip off the sleeve and fringes on the pant seem, also made of buckskin, more like chaps, or water drip page. Good example are woodsmen (pioneers) who settle Kentucky, Tennessee, and so on, wore this type of clothing. Again Mountain men modeled their animal skin clothing from the Northern Plain Indians. Colder climates the Indians wore animal skins, and the Ghillie shirt certainly resembles the shirts of the Indians and Mountain Men of the U.S. and Canada, more so than any of the Scottish Highlands of the same time period. Ironically, most of the American Mountain men from this period happen to be Scottish, Irish and French. There were many style animal and wool coats and jackets, but I am focusing on the "Ghillie" style to show you, the Ghillie shirt of Scottish fame, really was a knock off of the Mountain Man and American Indian type. If you really think of it it was the Mountain Man and Indian who settled the west well before the wagon trains moved from the bigger cities in the east, which brought cattle and sheep that was the start of the cowboy of the mid to late 1800's to the very early 1900's of Wild West fame. Hard to disprove actual History.

[Todd Bradshaw]

Having studied such stuff in my youth and later during my time shooting black powder, I don't recall ever seeing an example of an actual native American shirt that had the lace up front. Plains Indian shirts were generally pullovers with a triangular or rectangular, fringed throat patch tied on to cover the gap at the throat and add some decoration. I'd be kind of surprised if any mountain men or Indians actually wore shirts with the throat laces in the pre-Bonanza era.

[pbutts]

Context, and authenticity. Lets remove the Scottish element and substitute say, a tie dyed shirt. On the back of a frat boy at a party, paired with a fake wig, its costume, on the back of a person who has been "On the Bus" with jam bands their whole life, its a piece of, well, cultural dress......


But these gillie shirts have no actual basis in Scottish culture, they are, pardon my pun, cut from the whole cloth of costume.

This is is actually a really good analogy. When I’m not piping, my other musical obsession is the Grateful Dead (and yes, I’ve worn a kilt to Dead related shows). Before the late 1970s, there was very little tie dye on tour with the Dead. The tie dyed tour shirt was very much a creation of the mid-80s revival that took place after the Dead finally had a number one hit and a video on MTV.

it doesn’t take long for cultural revisionism to take hold.....

[Luke MacGillie]

This is is actually a really good analogy. When I’m not piping, my other musical obsession is the Grateful Dead (and yes, I’ve worn a kilt to Dead related shows). Before the late 1970s, there was very little tie dye on tour with the Dead. The tie dyed tour shirt was very much a creation of the mid-80s revival that took place after the Dead finally had a number one hit and a video on MTV.

it doesn’t take long for cultural revisionism to take hold.....

Im a victim of my time! My introduction to the Dead was the Europe 72 album, but I didnt see the Dead till summer 87 after I graduated High School, and the tie dies were in full swing then. Been catching them, or one of the variations ever since......

[Tobus]

I don't think people really thought that's what "cowboys" looked like. The LR was a masked superhero, riding in to save the day with his loyal sidekick. Pretty sure even kids understood the difference between the Lone Ranger, other movie & TV cowboys, and working cowboys.

I was being a bit facetious, but only a little bit. My greater point was that during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the entertainment world reinvented a lot of historical cultural imagery. The costumes were flamboyant and bizarre, with depictions of cowboys wearing frilly shirts in loud colours and patterns, with custom piping and sequins. Roy Rogers, Howdy Doody, The Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger ...the list goes on and on. This was an era where audiences didn't care about historical accuracy or realism. It was intended for entertainment, with a lot of music and singing, as well as a romanticised and idealised version of cowboy life. Adults knew it was silly, but a lot of kids (in the pre-internet age) likely didn't have any exposure to actual historical images to know the difference. Even if they did know the difference, this idealised version worked its way into our culture.

I know this is veering from the topic of ghillie shirts specifically, but I do think it's part of the greater conversation on fantastical costumery worming its way into culture and being confused for tradition. Below is a photo of my mother from around 1960-ish. The clothes she had on were typical of the time, not just in Hollywood, but in popular rural culture. This fashion trend came directly from television. If you wanted to dress in the style of western rural culture, this is what you wore (men's shirts were not that different).



It was cute and fun, but thankfully it wore off and people went back to more serious clothing that was less "costumey". Today, people see this sort of dress as a snapshot in time that lasted a couple of decades and then went away (though I still do see some older folks dressing like this for parades and such; they know it's a costume). But it didn't go away entirely; some elements still remain traditional or accepted.

This phenomenon of entertainment-becoming-fashion isn't relegated strictly to the USA. We are all aware of how Sir Walter Scott's writings shaped the popular perception of Scottish history and contributed to the romanticising of all things Highland, for example. Then the resurgence of popularity in the latter half of the 20th century created a new wave of reinvented imagery. The ghillie shirt is one of them. I suspect that its time is coming to an end as people start to realise that it just doesn't have any sort of firm footing in tradition, and borders on mockery of the culture. It will one day be looked at like the shirt my mother was wearing in that photo: a fashion trend with a costume-like flamboyance.

With so much focus these days on cultural appropriation and respecting ethnic traditions, I just don't see the ghillie shirt being a long-term survivor. I could be wrong.

*edited to add: what I find curious about the ghillie shirt is the notion that laces make it historical-looking for the Jacobite period. As if, somehow, buttons hadn't been invented yet. How did this notion come about for these types of costume shirts?

[CollinMacD]

Having studied such stuff in my youth and later during my time shooting black powder, I don't recall ever seeing an example of an actual native American shirt that had the lace up front. Plains Indian shirts were generally pullovers with a triangular or rectangular, fringed throat patch tied on to cover the gap at the throat and add some decoration. I'd be kind of surprised if any mountain men or Indians actually wore shirts with the throat laces in the pre-Bonanza era.

Not the most popular garment, but it was used, more commonly known as the Rifleman Shirt, the collar lace up did exist and was used by both Mountainman and American Indian. Some of the photos posted are examples of originals, at least two of them are in a museum. I shot Blackpowder for over 20 years,(NSSA) but this does not make me an expert on this, but my historical research does bring out the simple fact nothing is a rule with clothing in this period of time. Guess we will have to respectfully disagree, but take a look at some historical garments, the lace up was not really very popular but used. I have seen these same shirt in museum collections in the Northeast and Midwest, matter fact Smithsonian in DC has about for of them, that I know of. Cheers

Refer section A1 Pioneer Shirt

https://www.wyomingclassics.com/info...tive-american/

Refer section A2 Rifleman Shirt

https://www.wyomingclassics.com/info...tive-american/

[Todd Bradshaw]

Somehow posting photos and links to modern retail versions of mountain men's and native inspired shirts doesn't convince me. Got any photos of the real deal? I guess we're drifting off topic here, but I'd love to see actual period photos of plains tribesmen in shirts with laced up necks.

[Allan Thomson]

The thing is we've all said the same thing to Patrick about the ehirt, but he maintains his position despite substantial evidence to the contrarym. So I guess the challenge is to be laid to Patrick to produce a contemporary illustration of a Ghillie shirt.

Also Patrick, I'm still mystified, given your passion for 'old fashioned' style clothing why don't you wear a slashed doublet which I feel at least improves the Ghillie shirt look immeasurably and actually has a contemporary illustration supporting its wearing?

[Baeau]

The thread got my curiosity up, so I went on quick hunt for the History/Origin of the Ghillie Shirt. The quick look, came up with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghillie_shirt

Nice tidbit, with no meat?

[Tobus]

Ah, wikipedia.