Is it too weird to wear an arisaid in 2026 AD?

[OC Richard]

This photo nicely shows most aspects of traditional men's Evening Dress being followed, such as full tartan hose and Evening Dress sporrans.

Also seen are two cuts of Evening Dress jackets, the Prince Charlie coatee and the Evening Argyll, the latter having been co-opted by Pipe Bands and worn during the day.

Ghillie Brogues...a fanciful invention...tongueless shoes that laced up the legs to keep them on while permitting the feet to dry out afterwards.

To be clear, self-made deerskin moccasins that lace around the foot are historically documented.

What does appear to be a Victorian invention is the "Ghillie brogue", a built-up modern shoe with the top modified to superficially resemble the ancient shoe.

We could label the Ghillie brogue a "traditional" shoe if an unbroken chain of evolutionary forms could be documented establishing its descent from the ancient shoe...but alas! The Ghillie brogue appears to have been cooked up by the Allen Brothers as part of their personal costumes.

Where to wear a plaid in Scotland...

...or anywhere else. Sorry to say, but as early as the 1930s a gent would have looked out of style were he to arrive at an Evening do wearing plaid, dirk, etc. For whatever reason World War One put paid to nearly all the old Victorian accessories.

...the frequently-expressed convictions here that Ghillie Brogues are almost EVIL...

Certainly they are universally hated in the Pipe Band world due to most bands requiring them, and really comfortable ones being hard to find.

Also certainly they're not traditional (see above). The military, that bastion of tradition, never adopted them for any of their many forms of dress. (However some military pipe bands purchase and wear civilian outfits when competing at Highland Games including Ghillies.)

Personally I like the look of Ghillies for the simple reason that they're a shoe unique to Highland Dress, however untraditional they may be.

The anchor of "modern" highland ness (the knee length "little" kilt) seems also to have been an invention for military use rarely worn by civilians as an everyday garment.

Perhaps the little kilt had a military origin, perhaps not. As far as I know the jury is still out.

Sir John Sinclair wrote in 1804

"Whether the philibeg, or short petticoat, is an old part of the dress, or a modern alteration, is disputed.
Many contend that it was first substituted, on account of its lightness, for the belted plaid by Highland woodcutters employed by English companies in Argyllshire and Lochaber about the year 1730."