What Color Hose?

[artificer]

Please forgive my ignorance, but "lovat" simply means "muted" or "subdued," right? OR, is lovat green / lovat navy the actual color that is in the Armstrong modern tartan?

Lovat Green and Lovat Blue are two odd beasts. The marled threads in the weave can make their colours can appear wildly different in various light.

Green


Blue


Boosted from Rocky's thread HERE.

Sometimes the green looks VERY green, sometimes it has an almost blueish note. The Blue goes from almost sky blue to green, depending on light quality.

edit: I wanted to add that the two Lovat colours are my favorite for hose- they go with practically EVERYTHING and lend a nice, traditional look.

ith:

[Tobus]

Brown hose would be my suggestion. Anything from a tan or khaki (greenish tint) to a darker brown like bison. You'd be surprised how good brown hose can look with a dark coloured kilt in blue/green shades.

[creagdhubh]

Brown hose would be my suggestion. Anything from a tan or khaki (greenish tint) to a darker brown like bison. You'd be surprised how good brown hose can look with a dark coloured kilt in blue/green shades.

That's a good point, Tobus. Colours like bracken, bison, dark loden, and as you mentioned, a tan/khaki would also look well and contrast quite nicely with this particular tartan.

[TheOfficialBren]

I wear lovat blue, ancient green, charcoal, and tan hose. My main kilt is a Robertson Hunting (Modern) and thus is somewhat similar in colour palette to your Armstrong tartan (Shaw is another one along these lines).

All suggestions mentioned are fabulous. Claret...there's a really sharp choice! Noted and added to the list of wants.

[Mikilt]

Brown hose would be my suggestion. Anything from a tan or khaki (greenish tint) to a darker brown like bison. You'd be surprised how good brown hose can look with a dark coloured kilt in blue/green shades.

Agreed. In fact, I decided to take a pic with some of my kilts with brown hose. Granted, these are not with the tartan the OP asked about, and if I am hijacking this thread, I apologize.

R'lyeh


Stewart Hunting


Xmarks


I never before considered how good these color combos can be.

[Manxstralian]

Claret...there's a really sharp choice!

I was extremely skeptical of claret hose until I got some, and now they are my favourite colour! So a big plus one from me!

Cheers,

Cameron

[Riverkilt]

So the correct answer is go out and buy up a rainbow of colors of kilt hose and traditional garter ties then play around with the possibilities. That's the fun part of kilting.

Whoever thought guys like us would turn into fashion color coordinators - and CARE about it! Just amazing the power of kilts...our ladies must still be giggling! Choosing colors to put the "outfit" together for the day is a sober high....enjoy.

[AFS1970]

For the tartan in the original post, I think grey would be a great option. Although others would look good also.

Although I don't own any brown hose, as I just never thought of them with my kilts, I really like the way they look with the R'lyeh set.

[plaid preacher]

We share a colour palette. My Lamont tartan has a white stripe over a black watch base. My wife did not like the ancient blue hose that I originally bought to wear with my kilt. (photos - http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...dern-kilt-7886 )

She was a big fan of navy hose, which I now wear frequently, and I have a burgundy/claret pair of hose that I wear from time to time, depending on what I am wearing on top. I have actually been surprised how hard it is to find a colour of hose I really like. If you poke though the thread I have started you will find photos, mostly with the navy hose.

My next purchases will probably be a lovat green or bottle green hose. I think they may work.

[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