Civilian Spats

[Piobair]

Man spats are almost always a bad idea. Period.

If I see a piper in spats and he's not wearing no. 1 dress, I assume he's probably not that good or he's in a band that's not particularly competitive.

If I see someone who isn't a piper or in a parade or the victim of a prank wearing spats, I assume they've never worn a kilt before.

If you're going to Burns Night or St Andrews party and are trying to pull off legitimate Scottish formal wear, either go all out for diced/tartan hose (you can occasionally get cheaper exMOD varieties or simulated argylle that matches a variety of tartans) or a pair of decent hose. You will almost never see someone in Scotland wearing spats, even Prince Phillip; and you know he's probably got some around if he really wanted to. Spats and hose tops are for military uniforms, anything else looks silly.

[Chef]

If I see a piper in spats and he's not wearing no. 1 dress, I assume he's probably not that good or he's in a band that's not particularly competitive.

Well that's interesting since many of the top civilian bands as well as police and regimental bands use spats for not only their No. 2 Dress but often for their No. 3 dress (usually the summer uniform). Even the Royal Regiment of Scotland wears them for the No. 2 Dress. Of course I haven't heard them yet so maybe they're not that good.

Spats and hose tops are for military uniforms, anything else looks silly.

I tend to agree that the military spats we see today wouldn't work, but I don't think the same thing can be said for civilian spats. They might be considered "old fashioned" but so are some of us. The formal kilt outfit is not very far removed from its uniform roots so I think it might be worth a try. As for silly again he might look "old fashioned" but I don't think you could rightly call Sir harry Lauder silly in his kilt and spats.