Quote Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc View Post
We're told by people here with the creds to know that "Ghillie Brogues" are NOT a descendent from tongueless shoes worn by 16th century Scottish servants while carrying their bosses across swampy peat bogs (the absence of tongues supposedly made them drain quickly). I don't know the real story, but the absence of tongues are the defining element, the lacing up the calf a derivative of that, and the fake punctures on the toe cap apparently a total fabrication of the Sobieski Stuarts or a Victorian era shoemaker they tasked with dreaming them up.
Yes, I know all that. But ghillie brogues have been adopted by Scotland as part of the modern expression of "traditional highland dress". So even if the origins are fabricated and historians hate it, no Scot is going to see a person wearing ghillies with a kilt and think them the fool for embracing a lie.

When was the first example of the modern ghillie brogue? How many hundreds of years old must a tradition be for it to be accepted as traditional? All traditions have an origin. Even the concept of clan tartans was invented by the English, leaving Scottish clan chiefs scrambling to come up with theirs.

The way I see it, I can dismiss the authenticity of everything, because at some point it wasn't that way, or I can educate myself to preserve the actual history and still choose to enjoy the modern way things are celebrated.

That being said, the boots posted in this thread are certainly their own thing. I'm not jumping to buy a pair (then again, I don't own ghillies either). But I can see the appeal, and wouldn't judge anyone less for wearing them.