pipers plaid

[OC Richard]

Can anyone wear a Fly Plaid or is it reserved for just Pipers and Military?

Well that gets us into sticky terminology problems... because "fly plaid" is used for two rather different garments.

What we might nowadays call a "fly plaid" is simply a square of tartan, fringed all round, put throught the epaulette and pinned with a brooch, the rest simply hanging down behind.

As far as I can tell, this is a recent invention and was never, and is not today, worn by the Scottish regiments.

What was, and is, worn by the Scottish regiments, is the garment which was always called in the old days the "belted plaid". (Not to be confused with the "great kilt" or feileadh-mor or breacan-an-feileadh.) But sometimes it was referred to as a "fly plaid".

This is an elaborate garment. It is a square of tartan, with long rolled fringe on three sides. The fourth side is gathered and "let" into a narrow belt of the same tartan, which fastens around the waist with a buckle. On the side opposite the belt, a triangle of tartan is attached. It has matching long rolled fringe on two sides, the third side being gathered and sewn onto the body of the plaid. This tab of fringed tartan is put through the epaulette and pinned with a brooch.

Here is one with the basting stitches still intact so you don't see its full width, nor can you see the entire cloth belt which goes round the waist.



From the period which the feileadh-mor was discontinued in the Highland regiments (around 1800) this "belted plaid" was worn by all ranks in Full Dress to simulate the appearance the feileadh-mor. It continued to be worn by officers, and sometimes sergeants, and sometimes other ranks in Full Dress up to today.

It is often called a "drummers' plaid" today, probably because drummers in military pipe bands have long worn them. Likewise the long plaid is often called a "pipers' plaid" though it was also worn by officers and certain sergeants in several Scottish regiments.

The "belted plaid" was rarely worn by pipers, but I did come across a vintage photo of a piper of the Cameron Highlanders wearing one. (As opposed to hundreds of photos of pipers of the Cameron Highlanders wearing long plaids.)



Here's the belted plaid's more usual role, worn by officers in Full Dress and Levee Dress



Back to the long plaids, here's civilians wearing them with the front end fully showing





Now here's a photo where the end in front is very short, but still visible



In the old days the long plaid was just a rectangle of cloth, without formalised pleats, even in the Army



This photo is interesting because it shows at even an early date less fabric being used for the long plaid. Originally it was a length of full-width kilting tartan. Here you can see a half-width plaid, which is the standard today. (The exception being the Scots Guards.)



And lastly the typical mix of belted and long plaids in the same regiment, here the long plaids worn by pipers and a bandsman, short plaid by a sergeant (but not by the drummer)