HOS revisited: 1860s Day Dress

[OC Richard]

It's easy for people, when looking at The Highlanders Of Scotland, to focus on the swords and targes and buckles and overlook the fact that a large number of the subjects are in quite plain Day Dress (as we call it now).

I went back and chose portraits showing brown or grey jackets, what we would call Day Dress. Often these had to be cropped out of group photos, so a bit of someone else's sword peeks through at the edge.

The variety is quite wonderful.

Here we go:

[Tartan Tess]

Thank you for posting those. Everytime I look at the pictures I see something new like the spikes on the soles of the shoes and is that a opposum sporran?

[xman]

Thank you for posting those. Everytime I look at the pictures I see something new like the spikes on the soles of the shoes and is that a opposum sporran?

Looks like fox to me.

I notice that not a one of these gens wears Ghillie Brogues. I wonder when and how that came into such popularity

[KiltedDixon]

I like these pics of yore. I am struck by the length of the sporrans.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I'll point out one thing that many miss from these portraits -- and that is that these gentlemen are all quite clearly wearing box pleated kilts!

[OC Richard]

I'll point out one thing that many miss from these portraits -- and that is that these gentlemen are all quite clearly wearing box pleated kilts!

I noticed that too! On most of the kilts it's quite clear that they were boxpleated. On a few, it's hard to distinguish the pleating.

About the jackets, note that most are quite plain. Some have simple round cuffs without buttons. The pointed "Atholl Highlanders" cuff makes an appearance. Even many of the black jackets worn with full finery have plain buttons and plain cuffs.

Yes flashes aren't common: 40 of the 56 kilted figures lack them.

Other things to note: the bottom button of waistcoats is always buttoned (though one or more top buttons may be unbuttoned), no belts are peaking out from under waistcoats, and no sporrans like our modern "day" and "evening" sporrans existed at that time.

[xman]

I'll point out one thing that many miss from these portraits -- and that is that these gentlemen are all quite clearly wearing box pleated kilts!

And these would be 5yd models, yes? It doesn't appear that any fabric was cut away in the fell since they have such volume behind. Looks toasty warm.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

And these would be 5yd models, yes? It doesn't appear that any fabric was cut away in the fell since they have such volume behind. Looks toasty warm.

Judging from the width of the pleats (and the size of the setts) yes, I'd say these were probably made from around 5 yards of cloth on average. And no, they would not have had any cloth cut out from the fell.

[OC Richard]

Just the question I was going to pose to Matt! That is, could he estimate the amount of yardage. The pleats are smaller than on Matt's 4-yard boxpleated kilts, but larger than on 20th century military 8-yard boxpleated kilts.

About kilt pins, here are the numbers:

34 of the 56 kilted figures have that part of the kilt visible.

Of those, only 6 have kilt pins. None are like our 20th century sword or sword & targe etc styles or blanket pin style. They are:

2 open circles
1 open oval
1 like a clan crest cap badge
1 a clan crest without the surrounding circle
1 complex design

One kilt has rosettes.

About cap badges:

25 Glengarries with visible badge
22 Balmorals with visible badge
1 Glengarry lacking badge or cockade
3 Balmorals without badge

About getting hold of a copy of the book, I bought one for $100 when the present edition first came out. Around a year ago one came up on Ebay for around $20 and I got it. I couldn't let it get away that cheaply. So I have two

[figheadair]

Just the question I was going to pose to Matt! That is, could he estimate the amount of yardage. The pleats are smaller than on Matt's 4-yard boxpleated kilts, but larger than on 20th century military 8-yard boxpleated kilts.

Matt's are true box pleats whereas the C20th military ones, which the MOD calls box-pleats (Argylls and QOH), are a transitional box/knife with more depth on one side. In essence they are like a series of flattened hooks.