The case against white kilt hose

[RichardtheLarge]

Hello the rabble,

I have overheard considerable disdain for the stereotypical kilt hire white hose. I am not advocating for these, and I don’t care for them myself. My principle complaint is that they’re nearly always offered with Highland black tie when Argyle or diced hose are in fact correct.

With that said, is there a specific, traditional argument to be made against white hose in other contexts? I have a pair in ivory cable knit, and wonder if similar derision might be directed at these.

[Liam]

If you use the search feature you will see that this topic has been discussed many times before.
I think the main objection is that you are instantly marked as a kilt newby who likely is in a rental outfit.
I personally have no objection to them, but in a world of colour, why go black and white?
Slainte

[KiltedSergeant]

White is a color, too.........

Although the closest to white I own is ecru which, by the way, is ALSO a color!

[OC Richard]

I have overheard considerable disdain for the stereotypical kilt hire white hose...is there a specific, traditional argument to be made against white hose in other contexts? I have a pair in ivory cable knit, and wonder if similar derision might be directed at these.

Speaking mainly as someone who has spent 40 years in the Pipe Band world I would say, with us, it's more about the comings and goings of fashion.

One of fashion's functions is to announce who is "in the loop" and who isn't.

Perhaps more than disdain or derision it's recognition.

I can well remember back in the late 1980s when I first saw the newfangled gleaming pure white hose with the "bobble" or "popcorn" tops. A couple of the top Grade One bands had got them, and suddenly if you didn't have them everybody knew your band was from the sticks, living under a rock. In a contest you'd see a dozen bands in a row all wearing the pure white hose, and woe to the band still wearing their 1970s cream hose. You knew before you heard them play that their music and their playing style was as outmoded as their kit.

Thing is, it's true. It was debated on a pipe band forum, myself maintaining that any experienced piper could tell a band's level of musicianship simply by seeing a photo of the band. Many poopooed my assertion, so I put it to the test, posting photos of a street band (a sweater band, that is, a noncompetition band), a Grade 4 band, and a Grade 2 band. Every single respondent correctly identified the bands' levels.

Now bands are all going to anything but white or cream. Most are going to black but there are colours as well such as navy blue (the second most popular colour) and the Lovats.

Forgetting about the pipe band fashion thing, there is the tradition to consider.

In the 19th century selfcoloured/plain hose were nearly always grey, brown, or taupe. These were considered informal hose. Then in the 20th century more colours came in: Lovat blue, Lovat green, St Andrews blue, tan, and so forth, these worn strictly with Day Dress and not with Evening Dress.

Fast forward to, what, the 1960s and 1970s when cream/offwhite hose suddenly became extremely popular and for some reason people started wearing them with Evening Dress. To anyone raised with traditional Highland Dress this just didn't look right, not necessarily because they're white, but because they're not tartan or diced.

Today, to the eye of the longtime wearer of traditional Highland Dress the heavy cableknit cream hose look like relics of the 70s, pure white hose with popcorn tops relics of the 90s. Once again I think it's more about recognition than disdain (it is with myself, anyhow). It's not that these things look bad. They don't. But they do look dated. (We must recognise that the fact that some things look fasionable and trendy, and other things look dated, has nothing to do with their inherent value or attractiveness.)

[DougNZ]

Pipe bands are an unusual mix of dress traditions and ideas, and have a huge impact on the wearing of Scottish National Dress. Pipe band uniforms may represent a number of things including band history / traditions, uniformity, economy and points on the dress judge's score card. Bandsmen are also 'performers', meaning that their dress is expected to be a notch or two above the 'audience'; so while the audience is wearing tweed and brown leather, the bands will be wearing a Crail and more formal leather. And, in the eyes of many Pipe Majors and band managers, white hose look more formal.

In this country, where we have more pipe bands than Scotland, most kilt-wearers will be influenced by what they wear / wore in a band or what a bandman friend wears. It is rare to see a kilt-wearer 'correctly' turned out, much less stylishly dressed. White hose abound and evening sporrans are often worn during the day. Black leather is the norm, leather sporran straps are almost absent and, at most Games, at least one peacock will be striding around in Prince Charlie with dirk sparkling at his side.

Returning to the OP, I think well-textured ecru hose are fine for daywear, particularly if they pick out colours in the kilt. It looks very well, too, with brown leather.

[RichardtheLarge]

Pipe bands are an unusual mix of dress traditions and ideas, and have a huge impact on the wearing of Scottish National Dress. Pipe band uniforms may represent a number of things including band history / traditions, uniformity, economy and points on the dress judge's score card. Bandsmen are also 'performers', meaning that their dress is expected to be a notch or two above the 'audience'; so while the audience is wearing tweed and brown leather, the bands will be wearing a Crail and more formal leather. And, in the eyes of many Pipe Majors and band managers, white hose look more formal.

In this country, where we have more pipe bands than Scotland, most kilt-wearers will be influenced by what they wear / wore in a band or what a bandman friend wears. It is rare to see a kilt-wearer 'correctly' turned out, much less stylishly dressed. White hose abound and evening sporrans are often worn during the day. Black leather is the norm, leather sporran straps are almost absent and, at most Games, at least one peacock will be striding around in Prince Charlie with dirk sparkling at his side.

Returning to the OP, I think well-textured ecru hose are fine for daywear, particularly if they pick out colours in the kilt. It looks very well, too, with brown leather.

I certainly agree with you that one seldom sees anything approaching THCD in the States. Curiously enough, the closest thing might be people appearing at Burns Suppers in their Prince Charlies!

The last time I visited a Highlandwear shop, the attendant appeared in a pirate shirt and a chrome/fur evening sporran! Without any prior exposure, one might well expect visitors to the store to emulate its employees.

I’ll keep wearing my ecru hose with daywear.

[DougNZ]

I was thinking after posting above ...

When our band moved from a regimental-style uniform to a civilian dress uniform, ecru hose were chosen (the band has since moved to black Crail and white hose, which I opposed strongly!). I wonder if white / off white hose were chosen as a nod to the spats of the older generation of band uniform? Similarly, our band chose a semi-dress sporran with six tassels in remembrance of the Swingin' Six military sporran worn in the previous uniform and a green Crail to represent the archer green doublets formerly worn. Might there be a connection between white hose and spats?

[OC Richard]

in the eyes of many Pipe Majors and band managers, white hose look more formal.

For sure white hose looked more formal than other colours when white hose were in fashion.

It's one of those things: competition breeds uniformity. You see it in the costumes worn in Irish dancing, Highland dancing, etc as well as pipe band dress.

At the 2017 World Pipe Band Championships Grade One MSR Finals, every one of the 12 Finalist bands was wearing:

-kilts pleated to the stripe

-dark kilt hose (black, navy, or charcoal). The one holdout of the White Hose Era, Boghall, finally made the switch.

-longsleeved shirts (white or light blue) mostly with spread collars and French cuffs.

-waistcoats without jackets. One change is that most of the bands are now wearing tweed waistcoats with plastic buttons rather than the once-ubiquitous black Barathea with silver buttons.

-dark neckties (black, navy, or claret) with stripes. Only one band, Power, didn't have a striped tie.

-needless to say black Glengarries and ghillie brogues.

In the Worlds Grade One competition you see bands from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Though the New Zealand bands at the Worlds have black hose, I wondered about the situation with the New Zealand bands playing at local contests in New Zealand. I did a quick Google and found this Massed Bands from a New Zealand Highland Games, in this photo anyhow all the hose are black:

http://hororatahighlandgames.org.nz/...ighland-games/

I found this from another NZ Games, a photo of all the Grade 2 solo competitors, all in black hose except one guy wearing blue hose:

https://pipingpress.com/2018/01/02/p...ears-day-2018/

I'm seeing older photos of NZ Grade One bands in white hose, recent photos in black hose. Of course some bands maintain more than one colour and might appear at consecutive contests in different hose.