Semi-Dress or Daywear?

[OC Richard]

A few weeks ago I picked up a second-hand Charcoal Arrochar Tweed Braemar jacket & waistcoat from a Scottish etsy store for an extremely reasonable price.

Congrats! Very nice tweed jacket there.

Many people are of the opinion that a charcoal grey kilt jacket is the most versatile kilt jacket one can have- I've heard many Scots as well as people in other countries say so. For sure the fact that black, white, and grey are non-colours mean they don't clash with anything, and a charcoal kilt jacket looks great with nearly any kilt.

Am I getting close to semi-dress, day wear, or not quite either?

"Semi-dress" is, as far as I know, a recent term with Highland Dress, and to me doesn't have much meaning in regards to the tradition as I feel it exists.

Taking the long view, Highland Dress is an example of Punctuated Equilibrium: in between periods of stability it has undergone rapid and thorough change.

So throughout the Victorian period Highland Dress had certain looks, then around World War One it went through a near-total transformation giving us what I consider modern traditional Highland Dress.

The Highland Dress that emerged in the 1920s (and which is still being worn today by those who prefer it) had two categories: Day Dress (or Outdoor Dress, or Field Dress) and Evening Dress.

Each had dedicated shoes, socks, sporrans, jackets, shirts, and ties. Thus there was very little overlap between the two modes, and no middle ground.

The next period of change in Highland Dress started between 1970 and 1980 with the rise of the Kilt Hire Industry. Time will tell whether the attitudes and dress-items which appeared then will be accepted into the tradition.

Kilt Hire, initially, was mostly about the black Prince Charlie and everything else had to be modified to go with it.

Then the black Argyll became a common hire thing too. But where did the black Argyll fit? It didn't look quite like a Prince Charlie. Was the black Argyll dress? Or was it something else?

With sporrans these things meant the creation of "semi-dress" ones. The sporranmakers took traditional leather Day sporrans (which from c1910 to c1970 had been brown) made them up in black leather. Then they started sticking on elements from Evening sporrans like chain tassels and /or silver Evening sporran tops.

This new dress was immensely popular with Pipe Bands the world over: by the end of the 1980s nearly all competition Pipe Bands the world over went with black Argylls and black leather sporrans with silver Evening tops added.

With hose, the Hire Industry introduced and popularised plain white hose for wear with the black Prince Charlie and Argyll.

I started kiltwearing just before the Kilt Hire Industry transformation hit, and to me that look isn't traditional. None today can say how it will be regarded 50 years from now, whether the traditional dress of the post-WWI era will reassert itself, or the Kilt Hire look will become integrated into the tradition.

Which is a very longwinded way of saying that, to me, tweed is tweed, and tweed is Day Dress.

Barathea and velvet are Evening Dress, and by no means confined to black.

[KennethSime]

Which is a very longwinded way of saying that, to me, tweed is tweed, and tweed is Day Dress.

Thank you Richard, both for long-winded explanation and the succinct summary.

As a student of history, I appreciate both equally. :-)

[Jock Scot]

...........................

Which is a very longwinded way of saying that, to me, tweed is tweed, and tweed is Day Dress.

Barathea and velvet are Evening Dress, and by no means confined to black.

I agree with much of what you have said OCR although I take issue with two of your points.

Firstly, civilian pipe band attire trends is an issue entirely for bands and has nothing to do with general civilian kilt attire trends. Yes, those trends might run parallel with each other from time to time but that is all.

Secondly, the idea that tweed is entirely for day attire mis represents what actually is and has been been done in the Scottish Highlands for certainly nearly(who can remember their first couple of years?) the last 80 years to my personal knowledge.

What one wore in the evening, particularly if one was having guests ,or if one had an invitation to visit elsewhere has always been somewhat of a lottery to some and a complete mystery to others. However, what was/is worn depended how the invitation was worded and experience and this still holds true today.

Two words were the key to how we dress if we were/are giving an invitation or receiving one for an evening event. “Supper” or “dinner” were/are the two critical indicators to the dress required. Supper requires tweed and dinner requires black tie etc.. Likewise, if the invitation was to pop round for a “wee drink with a few friends” then ones experience would come to the fore, but usually that would mean tweed, but .........not always! A fair indicator in this case is, if the invitation is verbal then tweed is the choice and if it’s written then black tie is the norm. If in doubt, it never hurts to ask!

My circle of friends , as I still do myself on occasion, have no hesitation to ring round, or ask one another when meeting, what the "form" is at "Freddie and "Linda's do " or "my do" next week? Some might know, some might not, but by the "jungle telegraph" we all --------well, nearly always------end up wearing the hosts intended dress requirements.

So all in all your blanket tweed for day attire etc., is far too much of a simplification, even in today’s rather more casual attention to attire details.

[KennethSime]

What one wore in the evening, particularly if one was having guests ,or if one had an invitation to visit elsewhere has always been somewhat of a lottery to some and a complete mystery to others. However, what was/is worn depended how the invitation was worded and experience and this still holds true today.

Here in California, amongst the youth, virtually all invitations are sent via SMS text message, which implies t-shirt and flip-flop.

In all seriousness, I thank you Jock - as someone who never really dresses up for anything but weddings, this really helps expand my understanding.

[OC Richard]

Yes I'm also in California and as I've mentioned before these customs about dress for events are very rarely seen here.

Over the years I've attended a huge number of funerals and weddings (being a piper) and while some people dress for the occasion some others just dress how they always dress.

In any case, specifically about sporrans, here's a typical selection of Day sporrans seen from c1920 up to c1970. This particular catalogue is from the 1960s.



and here being worn, in the 1950s



And from the same 1960s catalogue their Evening sporrans.



What I've not seen either in photos or in catalogues until the rise of the kilt hire industry are sporrans like these below, the new category of "semi-dress" sporrans. Note that the traditional brown Day sporran has been done up in black, and Evening sporran elements have been grafted on.

It's my belief that these were specifically conjured to to hired along with the black Prince Charlie + white hose + black ghillies costume, and for Pipe Band use.



As I had said only time will tell whether these innovations will survive, and if so how they will be regarded.

The horse might have left the barn since a couple generations of kilt-wearers have come along who have only known civilian Highland Dress having three categories rather than the two it possessed c1900 to c1980.

But in my eye the "semi-dress" things look new and awkward and cobbled-together, not the elegant fully integrated feel of the two traditional categories.

[dcommini]

Here in California, amongst the youth, virtually all invitations are sent via SMS text message, which implies t-shirt and flip-flop.

In all seriousness, I thank you Jock - as someone who never really dresses up for anything but weddings, this really helps expand my understanding.

I have found that since joining this forum and learning of the different types of dress (formal, semiformal, etc) that I have started to dress better even when not wearing a kilt. Chances are that you might start to do the same.