Balmoral bonnet - individual wearing styles

[Troglodyte]

So you've got your new Balmoral bonnet, but it's as inflexible as a dinner-plate or it flops about like a cold omelette.

So what do you do..?

Why, you look up a few vintage photos with the idea of following the old ways, because that's best, right..?

Erm, yes. Up to a point.

There seems to be a couple of favoured ways that are most commonly seen, but the evidence suggests there are as many options for wearing the Balmoral as there are heads to put them on - but if you want a sample of the old ways, have a look at these:

Lochlee curling club bonnet.jpg Screenshot (243).png Screenshot (242).jpg

Each to their own, of course. But our stylish lad on the right of our line-up has got the dinner-plate and omelette problem well and truely sorted out!

Although this example is from the 1960s, the tucked-up and folded-in treatment of the Balmoral was something seen in the trenches during the Great War, when smart parade-ground style was something best left well behind the lines.

[Jock Scot]

I think many on this website obsess on how the balmoral sits on the head. You have "hit the nail bang on the head," there Trog., by heading towards the "each to their own" style. I can't think of anyone over here, ------apart from the military------who cares that much, one way or another. Personally, I head towards the well used "fifty mission crush" look.

There is a thread "somewhere" on this website, where I did a fun thread showing the start of obtaining that particular look. Several years later, I can report that the process is still ongoing!

[OC Richard]

I think half of those examples aren't Balmoral bonnets, but Tams.

Here's three gents in 1937 at the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban.



Here are two pipers wearing Lovat Green Balmorals showing how, and how not, to do it.