It's really interesting that the name ghillie seems to have been broadly applied to the women's fashion shoe before it was broadly applied to the Scottish brogue.
It's also interesting that ghillie brogues weren't standardly marketed as an evening shoe until the second half of the 20th century. Prince Albert certainly seemed to think they were evening attire in 1853. (Not that I consider Prince Albert any kind of authority on Scottish dress.)
detail from 'Evening at Balmoral Castle' by Carl Haag
You can't see Alexander Hamilton Gordon's feet in the final painting, but in Haag's study for Evening at Balmoral Castle, Gordon is also wearing ghillie brogues with evening attire.
Of course, based on this c.1860 photo of Waller Hugh Paton and the number of brown ghillie brogues in The Highlanders of Scotland, not everyone in the 19th c. considered them evening shoes.
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