Did Lowland Scots have a different look than the Highland Scots during the Regency Pe

[Steve Ashton]

Paintings, illustrations and writings suggest that there was much more diversity between the classes than there was among regions.

This was a period where a persons social/economic class and occupation would be readily apparent from how they dressed.

But among the same class it was pretty much the same. Some would say rigid. A farmer or shopkeeper (and their wives) would probably dress almost identically in Scotland as in England.
But as most of the evidence is of the upper classes our views of the fashions are skewed. The upper classes were well known for going out of their way and showing off their finery as a status statement.

While at the same time the lower classes were often portrayed more as characters to emphasis the class divide and the economic state of the normal, working people.

From the early 1800's up until WWI was one of the most rigid class periods in human history. Add to that the romantic notion of the idyllic life we should have had if not for the coal dust has muddied and distorted our view of the time. This dichotomy between the real, and what they wished for, has perhaps fueled more romance novels than any other era.