Sporran and Shoe Color

[OC Richard]

...it will look very nice to have a brown sporran instead of the more common black.

As I mentioned black sporrans were beginning to get popular in the 1980s as part of a transformation from traditional Highland Dress to the then-new hire/pipe band costume consisting of

black Argyll/black Prince Charlie + black leather "semi dress" sporran + white hose + black Ghillies.

Black leather "day" sporrans started in the margins in the 1980s to, yes, now being more commonly seen than brown. It's the (literally) dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists (like the King and many others) who stick to the traditional brown.

My ghillie brogues are of course black.

Interestingly when Ghillie brogues first appear (mid-19th century) they're often seen in tan roughout hide. (After all, they were a quasi-ancient revival thing.)

But yes in the main the shoes worn with the kilt have been black from our earliest images.

Ghillies were somewhat rare in Highland Dress from their first appearance until, as I mentioned, they became an integral part of new kilt outfits in the 1970s and 1980s. Up through the 1960s you could visit a Highland Games and maybe see a pair or two of Ghillies; nowadays you see hundreds.

In modern suiting it would be a terrible mistake to mix black shoes with a brown belt, but does the same apply with shoes and sporran for a kilt outfit?

Not at all, as we have seen. In fact the outlier has always been having the leathers match.

In recent years brown Ghillies have become more popular. I see a pair or two at every Highland Games, by the same traditionalists who invariably wear brown sporrans. But still it's an outlier.