Tartan hose

[kingandrew]

I ran into a sale, so I picked up a pair of argyle hose that match my tartan at a reasonable price. I wear them with black tie. I generally get compliments, but usually I am the only person at the event in a kilt, so I don't know that it has anything especially to do with the hose.

I will confess to sometimes wearing them with day dress on special occasions like my birthday.

Usually for daywear I have solid-color hose (red, green, lovat blue, or tan), or some "shooting socks" with a contrasting cuff pattern. These also work fine. I avoid the white hose look.

I have always liked the look of diced hose, but haven't lucked into a sale on them--yet. I also like that historical pattern that McMurdo and Peter model so stylishly. As everyone on this forum knows, there is never an end to the kilt-related accessories we may hanker for.

Andrew

[OC Richard]

Just as an observer/historian I'll say that patterned hose (cloth woven with a simplified tartanlike pattern, cut on the bias) seemed universal until Victorian times when both tartan/diced and plain hose are seen with tweed.

In The Highlanders Of Scotland we can see that these plain hose were in a very limited palette, usually the same grey, taupe, or brown as the jacket & waistcoat.

We also see hose in knit patterns, a simple over-check of single or double red and/or blue lines on grey hose, and more elaborate knit patterns like stags' heads.

Victorian photos show a much wider range of designs like horizontal stripes, horizontal/vertical squares, various forms of checks, etc.

In the slimmed-down Highland Dress that emerged after 1900 plain hose became the Day Dress standard, by the 1920s often in Lovat Blue, Lovat Green, and Fawn to once again match the tweed of the jacket & waistcoat. It was in this period that tartan/diced hose are seen only in Evening Dress, a situation which holds true today in traditional kiltwearing.

Tartan hose worn with Day tweed would have looked oldfashioned in the 1920s and so it does today.

For sure fancy pattern knit hose never died out, but on the other hand were never common, from Victorian times till now, hand knit in very small quantities.

[binx]

I like the solid color piper hose in the winter, as I wear kilts once or twice a week.

binx

[Jock Scot]

There are real differences between traditional and historical kilt attire and often, particularly those new to the kilt, it is difficult for them to differentiate between the two.

Whilst historical kilt attire may well be interesting for those who are interested but, harking back further to historical kilt attire with pictures that are often provided as examples, actually does not help one bit, for those who are new to the kilt. Following the traditional line does actually give huge scope with one's kilt attire and has far more relevance today and causes far less confusion.

[piperalpha]

How common are full tartan hose nowadays? They are standard for highland dancing but otherwise its usually plain color, including the dreaded cream hose or coloured for a more casual look.

I love the look of Tartan Hose. I had two pairs that went with my dancing kilt. They were hands down the most comfortable socks I've ever had for my kilt. The wool in finer and softer. If I can track down the tartan for the kilt I'll probably have another one made because I want to wear those socks again.
I've got two pairs of socks my mum knitted for me in my teens to go with the bands kilt. They've lasted 25 years and they're still going strong. I'm glad they were made with wool. They'll probably last longer than me.

[ThistleDown]

Where are you in the wide world, piperalpha? That may help us in the future, as you reassemble your civilian Highland dress wardrobe.

[piperalpha]

Where are you in the wide world, piperalpha? That may help us in the future, as you reassemble your civilian Highland dress wardrobe.

I’m in Canada. I have to sort out my profile this weekend.

[ThistleDown]

Good to know, piperalpha. I live in British Columbia half the year, and at Tomatin in Inverness-shire, for the other.

[Jock Scot]

I love the look of Tartan Hose. I had two pairs that went with my dancing kilt. ..................

Another interesting point here, that often confuses those new to kilt attire and actually some of those not so new to kilt attire.

Yes, it is a detail, but an important one. There is also a significant difference between traditional kilt attire and what entertainers wear. Dancers, pipe band members, singers, etc., do wear rather more eye catching attire .........in this case hose...... as they require a bit more “zing” for their performance. The general traditional kilt attire does not require that, particularly for day attire. However, for more formal events then more bling can be added as one rises up the formality ladder.

I think it is these often subtle and sometimes not so subtle important details that are missed by those new to kilt attire. However, we also have the freedom of choice to wear what we like , but, BUT, discretion is always an asset in my view.

[OC Richard]

About Victorian hose, here are six interesting ones seen in old photos I have:



Here's some of the variety of hose seen worn with tweed in Highlanders of Scotland, late 1860s.

Plain hose are generally grey, taupe, or brown, sometimes with contrasting cuffs.

Most interesting is the combination (left) of red & yellow tartan hose, blue & green tartan kilt, and brown tweed jacket. Note the none of the colours of the hose, kilt, or jacket appear in either of the other two garments.



In contrast to all this Victorian colour and pattern, Loudon MacQueen Douglas, writing in 1910, advocates

Stockings should be of ordinary hose material, and should not be of tartan.

when speaking of Day Dress/Outdoor Dress or as he calls it Morning Dress.

This aesthetic is borne out again and again through the 1920s, 1930s, and here in the 1960s



though one pair of hose has decorative cuffs.

Note that these men are generally following the common interwar practice of "toning" the jacket and hose.