Trying Something New

[MichiganKyle]

I would have thought that it might be just the opportunity to educate some of your countrymen, that there are other ways of looking at things, minor cultural things such as how the Highland Scots dress in their kilts. You have a tremendous resource to refer to, here on this website. It may take a while to entice them--------alright some of them---- to take an interest, but you dressed in the kilt will gain their interest of some before long.Particularly if you are attired in your kilt correctly.

In truth that is one of the reasons why I contribute to this website. I tire of seeing the kilt being worn so enthusiastically by visitors and them getting it sometimes, too often actually, oh so wrong.

It's hard enough to get the people here at XMTS to do that, but the general public is no problem?

My thinking on it is: is there a good reason specifically to mismatch things? Putting the concept of it being a rule off to the side for a minute, isn't "matching" still a subset, albeit a small one, of "correct"? Maybe that's incorrect, but from stuff like this among other things I've always gotten that impression from what I've seen and heard on here:

Should a match occur then no one worries too much.

When I see a picture of myself wearing the kilt I am quite often surprised at my colour choices as I give no conscious thought about them when I put them on! Also, depending on one’s tartan this idea of matching one’s hose, or shirt, or tie to the yellow stripe, for example, of one’s tartan is never a conscious thought. Actually with my tartan, MacLeod of Harris, with its five colours it is very difficult not to end up with something matching. So, why stress over it? Rules? Well, well not really it’s more subtle than that. Intentions? Oh yes, for sure.

I've seen some very good examples of matching on here before. One of my favorites (that I've since taken to using as well) is the one Isle of Skye Pipe Band's outfit with the dark blue hose and green flashes, both of which pick up colors of the IoS tartan. And, indeed, there are many tartans where you'd have a hard time *not* matching. So I guess what I'm wondering is: if someone wants to match colors, what's the harm?

(I'm very much enjoying this discussion, by the way, and am finding it very educational for the thinking behind putting together an outfit.)

[Jock Scot]

Please,please, please, don’t use pipe bands......even civilian ones.... as an example of civilian attire. Band attire is supposed to match, they work with a different concept. For individual civilian attire, matching is not necessary.

[MichiganKyle]

Please,please, please, don’t use pipe bands......even civilian ones.... as an example of civilian attire. Band attire is supposed to match, they work with a different concept. For individual civilian attire, matching is not necessary.

That kind of misses the point I was trying to make, though. What I'm asking is this: matching is not *necessary*, but is it wrong to do so? By way of a few examples, I'll pick on mostly perennially persistent picture posters @McMurdo and @Mael Coluim (since I like their style very much and always enjoy seeing the pictures they post) with a couple other posters mixed in that I think provide good examples and were quick to find:

Hose colors match kilt:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...24#post1370724

Hose colors match kilt:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...00#post1385000

Hose, shirt, and garters all pick up red from the kilt:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...71#post1389471

Hose and shirt pick up the dark blue from the kilt:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...61#post1390961

Hose, garters, and fleece jacket all roughly match:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...25#post1390725

Shirt and hose match:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...86#post1392586

Shirt picks up dark blue from kilt:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...65#post1392665

Hose, flashes, and kilt all match:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...48#post1376948

Hose and flashes pick up colors from the kilt:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...91#post1395291

Now, this isn't to say they always match everything they wear. These are cherry-picked examples. But it does happen frequently, and if this is wrong, why? And if it's not wrong, then what's the harm in matching colors?

As I said, I'm not saying matching needs to be a universal rule for everyone in all situations. I like a degree of matching most of the time and find it easier to have some guidelines than to rely on my non-existent fashion sense to come up with something that doesn't look doofy. But I'm not saying the opposite, either - that all non-matching outfits are bad. It's just that, for me, it makes it easier and more comfortable, not harder. I'm just trying to figure out the animosity (or I guess distaste) toward doing so and why it is frowned upon.

[Jock Scot]

Yes you are quite right and I am not going to criticise the two individuals' choices other than I would not do what they have done, nor would many experienced Scots kilt wearers to my knowledge. I think that you have identified for yourself is a Trans Atlantic divergence. One of many differences between one side of the Atlantic kilt wearing and the other. I have many times identified this phenomenon on this website. How do I explain the difference? I think, perhaps, a few thousand miles from a new country/countries and the old Country probably has something to do with it. The old country is probably and generally more conservative with its National Attire. Although things are changing here to, due I think, to the kilt hire company influence and that influence is swamping Google images with their wares. Whereas the New World are not so shackled to those traditions or inhibitions with the added complication of ignorance of kilt traditions.

Now if we are talking about Traditional Highland Civilian Dress(THCD)neither of the two gentlemen and their attire that you have used in your research pictures would in the strictest sense qualify as THCD. They still look pretty smart though, nevertheless.

A few random pictures of me, not much matching, unless you want to split hairs! Click to enlarge pictures.

[MichiganKyle]

Yes you are quite right and I am not going to criticise the two individuals' choices other than I would not do what they have done, nor would many experienced Scots kilt wearers to my knowledge. I think that you have identified for yourself is a Trans Atlantic divergence. One of many differences between one side of the Atlantic kilt wearing and the other. I have many times identified this phenomenon on this website. How do I explain the difference? I think, perhaps, a few thousand miles from a new country/countries and the old Country probably has something to do with it. The old country is probably and generally more conservative with its National Attire. Although things are changing here to, due I think, to the kilt hire company influence and that influence is swamping Google images with their wares. Whereas the New World are not so shackled to those traditions or inhibitions with the added complication of ignorance of kilt traditions.

Very well put!

Now if we are talking about Traditional Highland Civilian Dress(THCD)neither of the two gentlemen and their attire that you have used in your research pictures would in the strictest sense qualify as THCD. They still look pretty smart though, nevertheless.

Understood, and agreed 100%.

[MichiganKyle]

A few random pictures of me, not much matching, unless you want to split hairs! Click to enlarge pictures.

A picture's worth a thousand words. Thanks!

On that note, it would be really nice if more people would upload pictures of themselves to their profile's photos section, so that if you found someone whose style you liked, you could pull up more pictures a little easier. I'm guilty of this myself, although with my lousy photography skills it probably doesn't make much difference anyway.

[Jock Scot]

A picture's worth a thousand words. Thanks!

On that note, it would be really nice if more people would upload pictures of themselves to their profile's photos section, so that if you found someone whose style you liked, you could pull up more pictures a little easier. I'm guilty of this myself, although with my lousy photography skills it probably doesn't make much difference anyway.

Something I have noticed in my pictures that I posted above, baring in mind that my tartan has 5 colours in it, so it is actually a tad tricky not to match colours, but I have appeared to unintentionally solved the problem! So for example, I have a yellow stripe in my tartan but quite by accident (as I don't obsess about these things) I might end up wearing yellow hose , but not of the shade of the yellow in the tartan which is quite different. It appears that I also choose different shades of coloured garment with other colours of my tartan too.I am rather surprised with myself over this!

As to your second point, I agree. I did not know that we could do that. I shall investigate the profile section in due course to see what I can do.

Well yes, I can see a place for a picture(s?)in the profile section, but being the technodunce that I am, how do I post a picture there? Answers in plain and simple English please?

[MichiganKyle]

If you go to your profile, on the left you should see an "Add Album" area. That allows you to create a album and mark whether it's public or private.

Once the album is created, click the Upload Photos button to add photos to it. Then, when you've got the ones you want, click the button at the bottom to save changes.

[McMurdo]

Yes you are quite right and I am not going to criticise the two individuals' choices other than I would not do what they have done, nor would many experienced Scots kilt wearers to my knowledge. I think that you have identified for yourself is a Trans Atlantic divergence. One of many differences between one side of the Atlantic kilt wearing and the other. I have many times identified this phenomenon on this website. How do I explain the difference? I think, perhaps, a few thousand miles from a new country/countries and the old Country probably has something to do with it. The old country is probably and generally more conservative with its National Attire. Although things are changing here to, due I think, to the kilt hire company influence and that influence is swamping Google images with their wares. Whereas the New World are not so shackled to those traditions or inhibitions with the added complication of ignorance of kilt traditions.

Now if we are talking about Traditional Highland Civilian Dress(THCD)neither of the two gentlemen and their attire that you have used in your research pictures would in the strictest sense qualify as THCD. They still look pretty smart though, nevertheless.

As the photos of me were used without my knowledge, I thought I would answer some of this as I have concerns. The first photo of me was from a Burns Night in 2018. I am wearing a Navy Velvet Balmoral Doublet, with Argyll Hose, a Horsehair Sporran and Buckle Brogues. I think this would be considered Traditional by anyone, the Doublet and Sporran are both from 1911 and feature silver buttons and cantle, this outfit is much more traditional than the now ubiquitous Prince Charlie jacket.

As for the other photos some were not put together with an eye to Traditional Kilt Wear. As for those that are, the last for example, I find that the Royal Naval Association tartan is a difficult one to pair with. I decided the other day, when that photo was taken, to wear the Lovat Green Argyll with it, which does not match at all and to me was a brave choice, as for the hose they were simply the first I grabbed and they could have just as easily been Claret. Having said all that any of the non traditional outfits could have been tweaked to make them more traditional if I had wanted to go that way. I could also find photos that are more traditional if I wanted. The other point I would like to make is that colour either matters or it simply does not, to me what is far more important is quality.

[MichiganKyle]

As the photos of me were used without my knowledge, I thought I would answer some of this as I have concerns. The first photo of me was from a Burns Night in 2018. I am wearing a Navy Velvet Balmoral Doublet, with Argyll Hose, a Horsehair Sporran and Buckle Brogues. I think this would be considered Traditional by anyone, the Doublet and Sporran are both from 1911 and feature silver buttons and cantle, this outfit is much more traditional than the now ubiquitous Prince Charlie jacket.

Sorry about that - I guess I assumed the "@" mention would ping you. I'm not in any way, shape, or form meaning to criticize your outfits. Indeed, one of the main reasons I used you as an example is that I admire your style greatly and always appreciate when you post pictures. But @Jock Scott is not the first one I've seen post about a distaste for color matching. Unlike you guys, I don't feel I'm adept enough at putting together non-matching outfits to be able to just intuitively know how to do it or why you should, so it's helpful for me to know the reasoning behind it.