To hat bow or Not to hat bow

[BagpiperDon]

I've seen various people wearing their balmorals and occasionally glengarrys with tying the ribbons on the back in a bow. The first time I saw this I inquired and was told that this indicated your marital status -- untied means single, tied means married. My gut feeling about these folks suggested that these folks didn't know what they were talking about, and even with seeing it a fat handful of time since it still seems like like hooie to me. Yes/no -- are modern hats with ribbons ever supposed to have ties, and if so when & why? I think someone also said that this is noted in "So You're Going To Wear The Kilt", true or false?

Relative to this...

• I understand that the diced check pattern in hats, as with some pipe bands/drummers, comes from early versions of the hats where the ribbons actually laced through the hat around the head and would be tied making the fit of the hat to the wearer. Is this historically accurate?
• I understand that in modern use w/ pipe/drum corps (and any body else?), wearing hats with dicing is supposed to be done when and indicating service to the queen/crown. Correct/incorrect?

[thescot]

That married and single thing is not to be believed. Your guy feelings were well justified.

You should tie the balmoral's ribbons and trim them neatly on the bias.

Leave the glengarry ribbons loose-always.

You can, of course, do as you like with your own bonnter, and as many are quick to point out, you need not fall victim to tradition or stylistic fascism. But anything less than above looks like you really don't know what you're doing.

P.S. If you ahve a good, well made balmoral from Scotland, the ribbons probably came sewn together from the hat bank down about 3 inches. Pick that thread out carefully so as not to damage the grosgrain ribbon, and then tie the ribbons.

[Jock Scot]

If you are a Highlander then the ribbons on a balmoral are traditionally tied in a bow. There is a practical reason for this. The highlands are well known for wind and rain and a wet ribbon flicking you in the eye hurts. In the olden days the ribbon was used to adjust the fit. A diced bonnet is rarely worn in the "old" Jacobite areas(a bonnet is rarely worn anyway)as it is still regarded as supporting the Crown by some, but I doubt that there is any written evidence of this. As to the rest of the stories just regard them as just that.If in doubt just cut the ribbons off, no one will notice!

As for a glengarry, anyone who has had to wear one for any length of time, they usually find the nearest bin at the earliest opportunity!

[BagpiperDon]

If in doubt just cut the ribbons off, no one will notice!

Too many folks refer to it as a beret anyway...

[Jock Scot]

Too many folks refer to it as a beret anyway...

What, with the toorie on the top! Surely not!

[BagpiperDon]

Indeed -- its depressing.

[Jock Scot]

Indeed -- its depressing.

Not really, it only demonstrates the problems of adapting(or keeping your own)a culture amongst all the the other cultures in a relatively young country. Keep going laddie!

[Jack Daw]

I hate touries. That's why I prefer the caubeen.

[Paul]

I think most people don't think about wearing a diced hat too much. Most of the Tartan Army wear diced glengarrys when at games - but I'm sure at least some of them do not support the crown and at least a majority do not feel they are giving service to the crown by watching Scotland play football and travelling to other countries to do so. (sorry for the looooooong sentence!)

[Lachlan09]

If you want to get really pernickity (is that how it’s spelt ?), you could say that a glengarry or balmoral may only be seen as representing the descendants of the Hanoverian Crown if the black cockade (ie the silk rosette) is worn on its left side, as is the case with the RRS. Many civvy hats are available without the cockade/rosette and it can be removed from those which have it.

As for bonnet-tails, the balmoral issued to replace the glengarry in Spring 1915 for Scottish infantry regiments was close-fitting like a modern British Army beret, knitted plain dark blue overall (no regimental dicing at all) with black silk-like bow-tie and hanging, ribbon tails and with a red toorie. To the best of my recollection, there was no cockade. In the trenches, it was worn under a khaki cotton cover (without toorie). In late 1915, it was replaced by the voluminous all khaki sewn cloth Tam O’Shanter with khaki wool toorie, with short tails tied in a bow with no hanging portion left over. Again no khaki cockade, though I used to have a Royal Scots officer’s WW1 dated ToS which did have a khaki silk cockade. Presumably an officers’ tradition.

Up till 2006, the dark blue Black Watch balmoral didn’t have either a rosette or tails (see my album). Presumably, the rosette would have looked odd in front of the red hackle with no badge. The red hackle is fixed internally via a little hole in the left side of the bonnet rather than being fixed behind a badge.