Etymology of Ghillie Brogue?

[Wandering Spark]

My Paisley's of Glasgow 1939 catalogue describes the style of brogue as Box Calf Lacing which suggests that the term was not universal at that time.

It's really interesting that the term was still not universal that late, especially since it had made it to the US by then.

The Winter 1932 Sears catalog has a woman's fashion shoe which is obviously inspired by the ghillie brogue:

Sears was an American company which made affordable versions of trendy fashions. The fact that they described the ghillie as having "taken the country by storm," implies that it was a recognized shoe style in the US in 1931.

The fact that the Bystander calls them ghillies' brogues with an S and apostrophe implies that the name is derived from them being worn by ghillies or at least the belief that ghillies wore them. I haven't seen much evidence that 19th-century ghillies actually wore ghillie brogues, but that might not matter.

The Book of the Club of True Highlanders calls John Eldar's c.1543 description of going hunting and then making ankle boots from the freshly slain deer's hide a description of "the manner in which the ancient bròg was made," and on the same page also says "the modern bròg [. . .] is simply a more elaborate specimen of handicraft". If someone who couldn't really understand Eldar's 16th c. Scots read that page, they might believe that the modern cross-lacing brogue really was basically the same as the 16th c. deerskin cuaran made while hunting. (In the late 19th c., some Highland brogues were made of deerskin (Mackay and Carmichael 1894).) If that person only knew the word 'ghillie' as meaning 'hunting guide', a brogue style historically made while hunting could therefore be a 'ghillie's brogue.'

(The Book of the Club of True Highlanders is wrong about the history of brogues, but that's off-topic of this post.)