Traditional Highland Civilian Dress: A Definition and Guide with Visual Examples

[Nathan]

Colin and Nathan,

Do you think the advent of inexpensive photography- and of photographic illustrations- may have influenced the codification? What about newsreels?

I think the tradition bearers in the Highlands use their eyes more than photographs to see what's conventional. I do think that a tourist could make an error by saying that people don't wear kilts in Scotland just because they can't see them on vacation.

If one takes a look at used kilts on gumtree or ebay, it's obvious that most of the kilts for sale are from Scotland. One should also note that if a gentleman dresses for dinner in his home, you wouldn't see that if you were shopping on High street. I think advances in production and sales methods (catalogues etc...) had more to do with the codification than photography but it could be a factor.

And finally, what about the most recent wave of standardisation wrought by rental shops? Will the rock of THCD be eroded by it, or will it stand firm?

It's always evolving, but it remains to be seen which of these choices will be adopted by tradition bearers and which will be rejected. We see in the younger generations a tendency not to wear bonnets as often. Will ghillie brogues become de rigeur in the Highlands and will buckled brogues go the way of the do do? Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell.