Invited to a 19th century ball

[OC Richard]

would box or kinguessie pleats be appropriate for the period? Would a hair sporran be required?

This is really my bailiwick as people here know all too well... I have hundreds of photos of 19th century kilted civilians.

First off, the 19th century is a long period! What was worn in 1801 was quite different from what was worn in 1840 and that in turn was quite different from what was worn in 1870. Highland Dress underwent a number of major evolutions during the century.

By far the easiest period to 'do' is mid-century, say 1860-1870, simply because it is by far the best documented, and this documentation is of course The Highlanders of Scotland. I would peruse the men shown therein and let that be your guide as far as possible.

You will see that the Highland Dress of that period has certain distinctive features:

1) long hair sporrans (horsehair and/or goat hair) are worn for all modes of Highland Dress (daytime outdoor dress, evening dress, and military uniform). It's rather rare to see small sporrans at that time, and when you do see them they're usually the wildcat sporrans (a fine original was up on Ebay not long ago). No sporrans resembling our modern "day dress" and "evening dress" sporrans existed.

2) jackets of course followed current 'saxon' fashion as regard lapels etc and tended to be quite plain, usually lacking the Argyll cuffs and the epaulettes now expected on Highland jackets. In other words an ordinary black 'sack coat' from the period would sometimes have been seen with the most elaborate Highland Evening Dress imaginable (sword, pistols, dirk, crossbelt, etc).

3) footwear was quite variable and ghillies (usually brown) and Mary Janes and ordinary shoes were all commonly worn with various modes of dress; in other words it was not uncommon for Mary Janes to be worn with plain outdoor day dress.

4) hose are usually diced or tartan, but plain hose in grey and brown/taupe were also common (but no other colours; no white! no black! no blue or green!)

5) plain glengarries were the most common civilian headdress (avoid dicing).

For some unknown reason people who are very careful about 'period' dress tend to treat Highland Dress as if it exists in some magical bubble unconnected with the rest of the universe in matters of time and space. People who, when in non-Highland dress, wouldn't dream of mixing up 18th century, 19th century, and 20th century items will do so with Highland Dress. Try to avoid such farbishness. (Sorry but that's my re-enactor self talking!)