Waist coat? Or belt?

[OC Richard]

Of course if you're wearing a dirk you would wear a dirk belt over the waistcoat



It was quite a fad, back in the 1970s, for pipe bands to wear Prince Charlies, without waistcoats, with ordinary shirts, long ties, offwhite hose, and ghillies. Some bands around here continued that look into the present century (with the offwhite hose becoming pure white hose in the 1990s)

[OC Richard]

More often than not though I see belts drooping and vast expanses of white shirt between the bottoms of the waistcoats and the tops of kilts.

like this



I just don't understand why
1) men get waistcoats that are too short
2) men wear their kilts too low, or get their kilts made too short, and
3) men wear dirk belts under their waistcoats.

All of these things contribute to the photo above. You can see how short that kilt is made, how low the rise is, and how short the waistcoat is made.

[Manxstralian]

Off-topic, but this is the COOLEST character ever! (no offense intended to his clansmen or relatives, but he looks like he's taking one for the team, and just wants to get back to the party) I saw this photo on another thread, and was blown away by how suave he looked...

Cheers,
Cameron

PS. How cool are his hose?! Matching nothing in the ensemble, but worn with such panache!

[MacLowlife]

I can't find much in the above posts to disagree with, but I'd like to add a couple of comments. Saxon formal wear has a couple of cycles that go back and forth- vest/waistcoat or cummerbund is one and the other is wing or laydown collar. They go in and out of style. One looks cool and the other one looks dated. Or one looks classic and the other one looks fakey, contrived, inappropriate. You will see people on these pages endorse one collar or the other, but the cummerbund doesn't get much respect here. I am not endorsing a cummerbund with a kilt, though it can look pretty good. But I think the dirk belt and waistplate functions as a cummerbund would. Kyle, where is your picture of your Clan chief in a belt and black tie? As several people have noted, the belt doesn't tend to gap the way the waistcoat can, but the waistcoat does a better job of hiding a big middle.

On one thing we can pretty much all agree- absent a dirk, there is no point in wearing the belt AND the waistcoat- except to make the rental clerk happy.

[OC Richard]

Off-topic, but this is the COOLEST character ever! ...blown away by how suave he looked...

How cool are his hose?! Matching nothing in the ensemble, but worn with such panache!

That of course is none other than Pipe Major John D Burgess, famous for his playing and for his style.

Entire threads here have been devoted to him and his fashion sense

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ess-mbe-67632/

[Jack Daw]

I wear a waistcoat to carry my pocketwatch.

[creagdhubh]

That of course is none other than Pipe Major John D Burgess, famous for his playing and for his style.

Entire threads here have been devoted to him and his fashion sense

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ess-mbe-67632/

Indeed. John was always extremely well turned out and an excellent piper to boot.

Cheers,

[Manxstralian]

That of course is none other than Pipe Major John D Burgess, famous for his playing and for his style.

Entire threads here have been devoted to him and his fashion sense

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ess-mbe-67632/

Thanks for the link! Amazing style!

Cheers,

Cameron

[Spartan Tartan]

I wear a waistcoat to carry my pocketwatch.

And there you have it! Perfect. How else would you carry your pocket watch?