Quote Originally Posted by Dr Bee View Post
As for my advice to my son, I was not talking about a uniform worn by a band - it he were in a band with a uniform I'd advise him to wear whatever the uniform of the band happened to be - we were talking about what to wear with a kilt on the normal occasions on which a Scotsman might choose to wear a kilt.

When I first wore a kilt in about 1966 no one wore ecru hose - except on TV - hence my tongue-in-cheek allusions to a TV show and a show-biz act. My first adult hose were lovat blue - a colour I stuck with through many pairs over several decades, although I allow myself much more variety now. Ecru hose started to become popular in probably the late 70s and by the 90s had become almost ubiquitous - I remember in those days sticking out like a sore thumb at black-tie dinners in my refusal to wear them (and in my refusal to wear ghillie-brogues). I remember discussing this with my father and his opinion was that ecru hose belonged in show-business, on TV or perhaps in dancing - and not on the legs of merely mortal kilt-wearers like us - of course in those days because we didn't use the kilt-rental industry we had no idea of the influence that industry was having.

Anyway, fashions come and fashions go - I'm glad to say the fashion for ecru hose passed me by. When I see my son wearing his ecru hose I'll try to frown only inwardly.
I was born in 1966, whenever I saw my Dad in his kilt he would wear Lovat Blue or Green hose with a Lovat Blue Argyll. I think you may be onto something here that the fashions though they move slowly in the Highland wear world are somewhat generational. The first time I wore the kilt as an adult was close to 20 years ago, for my twin brothers wedding, we hired kilts and he had his made for the occasion. At any rate, the only choice in hose from the hire company was ecru. I bought them as I was told that they were correct. I did not at the time know any better.

As I have learned and grown in knowledge I never wear those hose any longer, I'm not even sure where they are, a few years ago I was given a couple of pair of ecru, hand knit hose that were knit on the Isle of Lewis, about 40 or 50 years ago. I must say these are a different animal to the cheap hire company offerings, as they were handed down and have sentimental value I wear them, however not often but the quality is evident in them and given the right outfit I see nothing wrong with them, just that they are rarely my first choice.