Brian Barou vs. Prince Charlie

[seanachie]

Thanks for the information here, very interesting.....I had no idea the Prince Charlie was such a recent innovation. I hope I did not take a perjorative tone speaking of marketing. I am a Boston native and know Irish coffee originated in the Parker House Hotel and not in Dublin. .Likewise, I have spent a fair amount of time in Ireland, and have heard Americans mentioning in restaurants there not being corned beef and cabbage on the menu. I only mention this because I did not understand about the jackets and did not want to make an expenditure on a Kilkenny and found I hadn't done my homework and showed ignorance. The Brian Boru and Kilkenny presenting a very attractive option to an Irish themed kilt is a great. I just had very little understanding of the background. Thanks again for sharing.

[OC Richard]

...I had no idea the Prince Charlie was such a recent innovation.

I had suspected as much, though Evening-esque jackets were worn, as we see here, as early as 1860:



About an Irish National Costume, rightly speaking it should be based upon the pre-invasion, ancient Irish costume consisting of leine and brat.
Or, falling short of that, based on the costume worn until fairly recently on that Aran Islands, the tweed trousers, vest, cap, with pampooties and crios (the crios surviving since ancient times).

Anything kilt-based is Highland Scots based, let's face it. Yes I know the Scottish Gaels hailed originally from Ireland, but the kilt developed after the colonisation. Yes there continued to be a certain amount of cultural interchange, but I've yet to see any convincing evidence that the Highland pipes or kilt existed in Ireland before the Revival in the late 19th and early 20th century. (The exception to this is perhaps Highland piping and fiddling being introduced to parts of Northern Ireland by Scots.)