Historically Accurate Victorian Kilt Wear.

[Blueline72]

Next year the wife and I are going to a victorian themed maquerade ball. I was contemplating going kilted. Any suggestions on historically accurate kilt wear for the Victorian era? I'm guessing if it was a high formal event, trews seem to be what would most likely be worn. However I'm intending to take a small liberty by going kilted.

[Tobus]

I'd start with the MacLeay paintings that he made of Highlanders for Queen Victoria.

[kingandrew]

Victoria and Prince Albert were pretty enthusiastic about kilts and Scottish stuff generally. If you do a Google search, you should able to find lots of pictures of Prince Albert kilted, along with plenty of images of Victoria's son Edward VII and various members of the staff at Balmoral wearing Highland dress.

There are also some wonderful images from Vanity Fair and Punch showing Victorian public figures in kilts.

A look through the "Historical Kilt Wear" section of this forum will turn up many posts with photos from OG Richard's fabulous collection of vintage kilt pictures. These will give you some ideas, as well.

Good luck,
Andrew

[OC Richard]

Next year the wife and I are going to a Victorian themed maquerade ball. I was contemplating going kilted. Any suggestions on historically accurate kilt wear for the Victorian era? I'm guessing if it was a high formal event, trews seem to be what would most likely be worn. However I'm intending to take a small liberty by going kilted.

It's great that you ask these questions! Because this is something that people routinely do inaccurately.

First off, formal Highland attire nearly always used the kilt. Trews (actually tartan trousers rather than historical trews which were a completely different garment) wouldn't often be seen with formal Highland Dress except with Officers of the 72nd Highlanders, who wore PCES trousers instead of the kilt.

Nearly 100% of the kilted men I see at 19th century events of all sorts, Dickens events, American Civil War events, Victorian Balls, and so forth are wearing Highland dress that's anachronistic and in fact impossible for the period.

Why? Because Highland Dress underwent a near-total makeover at the beginning of the 20th century, which saw several entirely new jacket styles and a full range of completely different sporran styles appear.

It would be quite impossible for someone to appear in the 19th century dressed in clothes that didn't exist until the 20th century.

To be specific, the standard Victorian sporran for all modes of Highland Dress was the long hair sporran. It was worn with rough tweed jackets in Day Dress and with finery in Evening Dress. Any other sort of sporran is ananchronistic, except for the fairly rare animal mask sporran which would be worn with informal, outdoor, and hunting attire, and not in the Ballroom.

Then, between 1900 and 1920 an entire line of new sporran styles appeared. My theory is that the new style, small and pocket-shaped, were initially created for the Army when Full Dress and the traditional long horsehair sporrans were abolished in 1914. When the war ended the new sporrans became so popular with civilian Highland Dress that the old-style sporrans quickly fell from favour.

Yet at every 19th century themed event nearly every man in Highland Dress is wearing these post-WWI style sporrans.

The other thing is Highland Evening Dress jackets.

In the 19th century by far the most popular jacket was the Doublet. Doublets and Dress Argylls accounted for nearly all the Victorian Highland Evening Dress jackets one sees. Wearing any other style in an anachronism.

Yet at every modern Victorian Ball nearly all the kilted men are wearing Prince Charlie coatees, which didn't exist in the 19th century. The "coatee" as it was originally called appeared around 1910 as best I can tell. Even in the 1920s it's spoken of as a new style, and one only suited to stylish young men.

Other Evening Dress jackets invented in the early 20th century include the Montrose, the Kenmore, and the Sheriffmuir, all of which, along with the Prince Charlie coatee, are entirely anachronistic to the 19th century.

Time for pictures!

You're talking a Ball, so outdoor daytime tweed is out, and finery is in.

Victorian Highland Evening Dress can be extremely elaborate, or kept more simple.

Here's one of more pared-down examples. It has the typical Doublet, but worn without crossbelt.

The plaid is what was called the "belted plaid" (because it had a cloth self-belt that went around the waist).

The sporran is long hair, of course, and with a silver cantle. Sporrans often lacked tassels.

The shoes are Ghillie Brogues with decorative buckles added.



Here's a doublet in velvet. This gent has done away with nearly all accoutrements, even the dirk. Interesting that he has a crook- I don't think he would wear that velvet doublet herding sheep or hiking in the hills.



Here's a fellow in a trimmed doublet worn with a plain belt which supports his dirk. Once again it's the belted plaid. Note the long tie- we equate bow ties with formal dress but it wasn't always the case.



Here's about as plain as it gets- probably around 1900- a Dress Argyll jacket and no accessories.



Here's another plain example, this Doublet worn in a common Victorian manner of being buttoned only at the top and left to hang open. Note the small diameter of the bonnet.



Now for some more elaborate Evening costumes, with sword and crossbelt, powder-horn on its chain, and two Highland pistols





Now, here's a modern Victorian Ball with all the men wearing jackets and sporrans that weren't invented until the 1910-1920 period.

It's as if Highland Dress exists outside of time itself.

And BTW at an Evening function all the men would be wearing tartan or diced hose, not plain, and they would usually have buckles on their shoes.

[McMurdo]

If you are lucky enough Victorian Era Highland wear is still out there. I think this photo shows the differences between modern highland wear and Victorian highland wear very well, taken at this years Burns Night

[jhockin]

Re the belted plaid ( as mentioned by OC, above):
http://kiltmaker.blogspot.com/2008/0...ats-plaid.html

[figheadair]

The Victorian era saw huge changes in style over the nearly 60+ years it covered. The style of male evening dress f 1840😩-50 was quite different to that of 1870-1900. Far more tartan at the beginning. Pick you timeframe and then work out what to wear.

[OC Richard]

At least with the styles of jackets and sporrans, which are the things most often done wrongly, there was remarkable stability from the c1840 to c1900 period.

The standard jacket was the doublet during the entire period. Yes throughout the period there was a bewildering variety of cuts.

The sporran story is similar: a wide variety, but all long hair sporrans.

It's the "punctuated equilibrium" thing, where Highland Dress underwent a massive transformation in the c1800 to c1840 period, then settled down c1840-c1900, then underwent another near-total change c1900-c1920, and has remained stable for the next century.

The photos I posted above range from c1860 to c1900 and they show more or less similar dress.

In case people don't know what a 19th century "doublet" was, here are examples.





Some buttoned nearly all the way up, some buttoned only at the top and were designed to sweep open at the bottom. But all doublets had these skirts or flaps around the bottom, and nearly all had these gauntlet cuffs.

[McMurdo]

Below are photos of my Victorian Era Argyll jacket the features are slightly different than a modern jacket but for me the really striking differences about it are the colour and the weave of the tweed.

[Bibbs]

While the Victorian era clothing seems a little chunky, they definitely look sharp.