Castellated Hose

[OC Richard]

So You're Going to Wear the Kilt saying something along the lines of 'the only correct hose for evening wear are Castellated Hose'.

How silly!

They seem always to have been somewhat rare, a bit over-the-top.

What I wonder is, could the Allen brothers have invented the things? Perhaps by analogy with the castellated clothing trope encountered in modern depictions of the Middle Ages?



If not invent, the Allen Brothers may have done much to make them more popular.

[figheadair]

If not invent, the Allen Brothers may have done much to make them more popular.

Agreed Richard. There Costume of the Clans featured catellated type hose.

[OC Richard]

Agreed Richard. There Costume of the Clans featured catellated type hose.

Wow. Is there any historicity to that outfit? Or is it from the Allen Brothers imagination?

[figheadair]

Wow. Is there any historicity to that outfit? Or is it from the Allen Brothers imagination?

I think this is a classic example of the Allen Brothers using an existing portrait and letting their imagination run wild. In this case, I'm sure that the Mungo Murray portrait was the source. The arrangement of the plaid, the doublet, hose and the ostrich feather bonnet are all similar.



Another from Costume of the Clans, this one is based on the portrait of Lord Duffus.

[OC Richard]

Wow they did let their imagination run wild with the Murray portrait! I didn't recognise it.

The Lord Duffus one stays closer to the source, but still, why not reproduce the original? Rather than re-imagining it?

Obviously taking original period iconography, embellishing it, and presenting the embellished version as historical, flies in the face of proper methodology.

Those re-imaginings do give us a bit of insight into the way their minds worked: play fast-and-loose with the facts, and present their own creations as being historical.

In any case the Allens' creations get us no closer to the origin of the castellated hose.

[figheadair]

Wow they did let their imagination run wild with the Murray portrait! I didn't recognise it.

Obviously taking original period iconography, embellishing it, and presenting the embellished version as historical, flies in the face of proper methodology.

Those re-imaginings do give us a bit of insight into the way their minds worked: play fast-and-loose with the facts, and present their own creations as being historical.

In any case the Allens' creations get us no closer to the origin of the castellated hose.

Here's another of their fantasy images in which the (plain) castellated hose are clear. I can't haven't worked out what the source for this one was but it has elements of Waitt's Champion and Piper to the Laird of Grant.

[EagleJCS]

Here's another of their fantasy images in which the (plain) castellated hose are clear. I can't haven't worked out what the source for this one was but it has elements of Waitt's Champion and Piper to the Laird of Grant.

Images like this put me in mind of paintings I have seen of the 15th and 16th century European court dress. (King Henry VIII and earlier). The leg coverings would be the main thing making it a bit different, since in the court dress paintings, they appear to be wearing tight-fitting leggings going all the way up (would they be called trews?) rather than the knee-length socks we call kilt hose.

Nothing else to add to the conversation.

[OC Richard]

Here's another of their fantasy images in which the (plain) castellated hose are clear. I can't haven't worked out what the source for this one was but it has elements of Waitt's Champion and Piper to the Laird of Grant.

Ha!

I just saw that they used a B&W version of that for the cover of Seumas MacNeill's book on piobaireachd.

I wonder if the publishers have a clue about the image's origin. I'm sure they imagine it's a genuine depiction of a piper from some unknown past.

BTW whichever Allen brother drew that obviously didn't quite understand what Highland bagpipes (or any bagpipes) look like. The pipes in the Allen drawing are a strange blend between ornate silver-mounted Victorian pipes and the stereotypical trumpet-like bells seen on old illustrations of bagpipes all over Europe. In fact Highland pipes never seem to have had such bells, nor any other sort of bagpipe now that I think about it. (Modern makers who have turned reproduction bagpipes with the big trumpet bells seen in Mediaeval drawings discovered that they waste a huge amount of timber for negligible acoustic effect.)

[Touchstone]

How silly!

They seem always to have been somewhat rare, a bit over-the-top.

What I wonder is, could the Allen brothers have invented the things? Perhaps by analogy with the castellated clothing trope encountered in modern depictions of the Middle Ages?



If not invent, the Allen Brothers may have done much to make them more popular.

Not just modern depictions. Castellated hoods and tunics were common in the High Middle Ages among the upper classes. The style is usually called "dagged" or "crenellated" in this context. If you scroll down on the following page and click on the "Historical Inspirations" down-arrow, you'll see some renderings from period paintings.

https://revivalclothing.com/product/...-3f737b1f-9d6f

As to what inspired the Allen brothers, I can't say.

[OC Richard]

Thanks for that!

They refer to Gaston Phoebus' Hunting Book (c1388) which I'd never heard of. It has an amazing collection of detailed paintings showing the clothing of the period.

If only we had something like that showing Highland Dress!

I wonder what the earliest depiction of castellated hose is. In the Hunting Book it appears on head-dress.

(I posted an image from the Hunting Book, then removed it when I realised it probably violates a number of rules here! It's pretty gruesome.)