Dress sporran colour?

[OC Richard]

From at least the 1920s up till fairly recently, Evening Dress sporrans in Scotland were normally made from sealskin, in various shades of grey, or a somewhat yellowish near-white.

Here are catalogue images from the 1930s showing what was then the "norm".

White seal:



Grey seal:



The Evening sporran, on the upper left, is grey seal. The day sporran on the upper right is buckskin. At this time long hair sporrans, shown at bottom, were still being worn with Evening Dress.



And from the 1950s. It's all sealskin for these men in Evening Dress:



Note that the men's Evening sporrans, shown below at upper right, are all white, or mottled grey, seal. Note also that the full animal mask sporran is grouped with the Day sporrans.



Now why am I showing these things? Simply because the standard sort of Highland Dress worn from the 1930s through the 1960s is what I grew up with and it's what looks "right" to me for that reason. So, with your kilt or any other kilt, a classic white or grey sealskin Evening Sporran is what looks "old school" or traditional.

Now here's a somewhat earlier catalogue, from the 1920s, when long hair sporrans, goathair and horsehair (usually white) were still being worn regularly with Evening Dress:



Interesting to see a brown Evening Dress sporran there.

Bottom line, any sort of Evening Dress sporran would look fine with your kilt, be the fur white, grey, brown, or black.