What Color Hose?

[OC Richard]

I'm not a fan of black or vibrant colors like red, and I'm not particularly crazy about diced hose, so my question is this: For the Armstrong modern tartan, what do you suggest would look best?

It boils down to this: white, and black, don't interfere with a tartan, and let it be what it is.

Grey, neutral one would think, actually tends to dull the kilt's colours. The effect is most noticeable when the value is close to that of the tartan, least noticeable with charcoal grey hose.

Hose that are the same colour as one of the kilt's main 'ground' colours tends to drain that colour out of the tartan, thus weakening the kilt.

Most effective is to avoid the kilt's main ground colours and go with something that's a clear contrast.

So, with that kilt, which has a dark blue and dark green ground, blues and greens will look best if they contrast, say, Lovat Green, Moss Green; Lovat Blue, Ancient Blue, a strong Royal Blue or Electric Blue. (Using a colour brighter than the same colour in the kilt, say, vivid Royal Blue hose with a kilt that has a dark dull blue, amplifies the colour in the kilt.)

Perhaps more effective yet would be colours that utterly contrast such as red, claret, or yellow.

Here's a thread a while back with many examples

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...63/index2.html

like how Isle of Skye works well with blue, there being no blue in the tartan



and how claret works, there likewise being no claret in the tartan