Day and evening sporrans

[OC Richard]

No, I am sorry, he is not in day dress kilt attire! He is wearing a suit equivalent...

This seems to be one of those times when things which to a mere observer like myself appear to be one thing, but to others something else.

Certainly in outward appearance that man's dress conforms entirely to Day Dress as it is always described, with tweed jacket, leather sporran, lovat hose, etc. In all my vintage Highland Dress catalogues, contemporaneous with that photo in fact, that precise sporran is listed as a "Day" sporran, that precise jacket listed as a "Day" jacket (see below for that exact sporran being so listed).

Puzzling...

Anderson's in 1936 states what at that time was, to them, appropriate for weddings:



Note that they mention what we would call charcoal grey, and black, kilt jackets. They don't call it "semi-dress" but indeed they seem to be speaking of a category of Highland Dress in between formal/evening dress and tweed day dress.

[Jock Scot]

This seems to be one of those times when things which to a mere observer like myself appear to be one thing, but to others something else.

Certainly in outward appearance that man's dress conforms entirely to Day Dress as it is always described, with tweed jacket, leather sporran, lovat hose, etc. In all my vintage Highland Dress catalogues, contemporaneous with that photo in fact, that precise sporran is listed as a "Day" sporran, that precise jacket listed as a "Day" jacket.


Puzzling...

I don't think its puzzling at all. In UK terms please remember we use "dress" as another word for formal. Therefore what I see in that picture is not " Dress"(formal) kilt attire. I see smart(suit equivalent) kilt attire. As we are discussing Scottish attire(and within Scotland,UK), then I respectfully venture to suggest, that UK terms would be appropriate and would cause less confusion that way?

[OC Richard]

Which is why I'm guided by the appearance or form of things rather than by nomenclature.

In old photos and paintings we can't know what names people had for things. We can only see their appearance. So you might have to pardon me at times for following the "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a duck" mindset.

In the photo of the man at that wedding I can see not a stitch that he's wearing that is different from what all the Highland Dress catalogues at that time were calling "Day Dress". So we know what the people he probably bought his kit from called it; what he called it himself we cannot know; what we call it today is our own concern.

[Jock Scot]

This seems to be one of those times when things which to a mere observer like myself appear to be one thing, but to others something else.

Certainly in outward appearance that man's dress conforms entirely to Day Dress as it is always described, with tweed jacket, leather sporran, lovat hose, etc. In all my vintage Highland Dress catalogues, contemporaneous with that photo in fact, that precise sporran is listed as a "Day" sporran, that precise jacket listed as a "Day" jacket (see below for that exact sporran being so listed).

Puzzling...

Anderson's in 1936 states what at that time was, to them, appropriate for weddings:



Note that they mention what we would call charcoal grey, and black, kilt jackets. They don't call it "semi-dress" but indeed they seem to be speaking of a category of Highland Dress in between formal/evening dress and tweed day dress.

If you care to read carefully they stipulate FULL DRESS(formal) which leaves one to be in absolutely no doubt of the attire being talked about . Therefore the fellow in the other picture dressed in tweed etc is not in FULL DRESS he is in smart (suit) kilt attire which is not formal. Perhaps you are missing the "social aspects" of the wording that were particularly pertinent in the !920/30/40/50's and to a lesser extent continue today.

It is interesting the comment about tweed being worn at weddings if you care to read on and it is interesting how tweed these days(post WW2) is regarded as quite acceptable for anything other than a formal(dress) wedding event.

[freddie]

Seems you could only 'down dress' when the wedding was 'in the country' (whatever that means) . If I were going to a wedding I would wear my black Argyll jacket with silver buttons or a charcoal tweed jacket (if I possessed one) and my black leather sporran.

[Jock Scot]

Seems you could only 'down dress' when the wedding was 'in the country' (whatever that means) . If I were going to a wedding I would wear my black Argyll jacket with silver buttons or a charcoal tweed jacket (if I possessed one) and my black leather sporran.

It does show quite conclusively that traditional Highland attire actually does move, albeit pretty slowly---- well alright, think speed of a snail!-----------, with the times. Goodness only knows what the "modernists" of the traditional kilt world would say if we were still frozen in 1936!