Quote Originally Posted by Jock Scot View Post
The pictures of spats on show were admittedly taken well before I was born(1940). Nevertheless, I have seen more than a few spats being worn out on the hill in the past, often by the elder members of my family, so products of the Victorian era. I vividly recall on occasion, wrestling with the button hook that was used to do up the buttons when the less agile were not able to fasten the buttons themselves. A snug fit was required for the spats to be effective, so doing up the buttons by hand and without a button hook usually meant a loose fit and mud, grit, heather seeds and stalks would make their uncumfortable presence felt during the day. However, I do not ever remember matching tweed, to the owners suits, or even tweed at all used for spats. Materials of soft leather suede, canvas, or some sort of moleskin are what I can remember.
Right, Jock, all the vintage spats I've come across (including the ones I wear) are made of a sturdier and/or close-weave material. The ones I wear (shown below) are felted wool. That's why I was somewhat surprised when I realised the fellow in the photo was wearing spats that appear to be the same material as his kilt. I would have thought it would be too loose of a weave to work well as a functional spat. Of course, he could have just worn them for fashion.

And yes, buttoning up spats is a chore! I'm still somewhat young (at 45 years old) and spry, but even I have to bend into an unnatural position to button them up. By the time I'm done - and I do use an antique button hook - I'm out of breath. The outside of one's foot is not easy to work on with both hands!

That said, I do love spats. I'm still trying to find some taller ones that are not white piper's spats. Antique (Victorian) spats are somewhat rare to find these days, and when found they are invariably ladies' spats. I would even try those, but they're tiny.