outfits at The Worlds Friday 2018

[OC Richard]

It's that time again! We pipers and drummers who didn't make it to The Worlds are sitting in front of our computers watching our friends play on Glasgow Green.

Today (Friday 17 August) was the Grade One Qualifiers. They started at 3am Pacific Time.

The Grade One format has changed in recent years. No longer are the big UK bands pre-qualified; now everyone must play in the Qualifying Heat, which is held on Friday.

As I do every year, I take note of what the bands are wearing in addition to the music they're playing. Also the Worlds can't be beat for pipe-spotting. (Cool to see how many American-made pipes are in Grade One circles.)

As far as Fashion News goes, there's not much to tell. The pace of evolution of competition Pipe Band costume is more akin to that of geological processes than the activities of humankind.

Seems that we can finally say with confidence that the White Hose Era is dead and gone. Once again, not a single band in the Grade One Qualifiers (22 bands) was wearing white or any light colour. Once again nearly all the hose are black, navy blue, or charcoal grey. The only exceptions were a couple bands wearing what I would call RAF blue, a couple wearing a deep royal blue, and one outlier wearing dark olive. (They had dark olive waistcoats to match.)

With kilts, there's been an ongoing trend away from the old standard tartans (which used to dominate the Pipe Band world) and towards commemorative, corporate, and bespoke tartans. Lomond & Clyde, Field Marshal Montgomery, and Scottish Power are wearing tartans designed for the bands. The New Zealand Police wear a tartan that commemorates the centenary of the Clan MacLeod Society, and Denny & Dunipace wear Princess Elizabeth.

Old standbys making an appearance were Royal Stewart, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Clan Cameron, Blue MacKay, and MacLean of Duart (weathered). 40 years ago at the Worlds Royal Stewart and MacLean of Duart accounted for around a quarter of the bands!

Only two bands had their kilts pleated to the sett, the rest being to the line or block.

Every band was wearing waistcoats, ghillies, and Glengarries. No band wore jackets.

A recent trend is bands going away from the once-ubiquitous black Barathea waistcoats with square silver buttons and wearing plain tweed waistcoats with matching plastic buttons, in black, navy blue, and charcoal grey. The outliers were one band wearing dark brown and another wearing dark olive.

A decade ago you could see dozens of bands all wearing black Hunting Sporrans with chrome cantles; this year half the bands were wearing them. A couple bands were wearing plain black leather Day sporrans, a few were wearing grey sealskin Evening sporrans, a couple were wearing those distinctive Ian Grant sporrans.

Still popular with bands are the ornate silver sporran chains. A few bands are putting band logos on their flashes.

Nearly all the bands were wearing striped neckties.

Three bands were wearing military cap-badges though there didn't appear to be any military connexion, one band Cameron Highlanders, one band Black Watch, one band Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.

The most interesting kits, bucking a number of common trends, were worn by the Glasgow Skye Association and Inveraray & District.

(All the comments above leave out mention of Bagad Cap Caval. They do not wear Highland Dress, which by the way is not required by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association.)