A Different take on White Kilt Hose

[ThistleDown]

The last time I was at a wedding was years ago, and if I remember right, all of the kilt wearers wore white hose. I can't exactly remember the tartan, I think it was Pride of Scotland. So as I remember it, all plain white hose and all PoS tartan!

White hose and Pride of Scotland tartan is a dead giveaway -- kilt rental. In the Lowlands that's the norm and in the Highlands it's often the case, but most of the Scottish hire firms don't rent out hose these days. They sell them for higher profit, instead, and frugal members of the wedding party have no use for them after the day, so they buy the least costly pairs -- always white. Many Scots -- Highlanders or Lowlanders --have their own kilts, but go off to the outfitter for a new pair of hose prior to the wedding . If you look again at the pic Steve posted, you can see the difference between new hose and those simply pulled from the drawer for the occasion. At least one pair is beautifully hand knit.

I'm at a wedding in Germany this Summer and I can (almost) guarantee that several of the men will be wearing newly-purchased white hose, but all will be wearing their own kilts. The last wedding I attended (at Inverness in December) there was not a white pair to be seen. No tartan garter flashes either, as I recall.