"Viking Style" Brouge lacing?

[OC Richard]

Yes it's people who don't know how to wear Highland Dress who hire a kilt outfit for a wedding and think the Ghillie brogue lacing should go all the way up the calves like Vikings in films, who have leather straps crossing over their lower legs holding rabbit skins etc in place. (Something akin to this does exist in Bulgarian folk dress, left, natural wool wraps held in place with leather straps.)



It's part of the dichotomy between people who view Highland Dress as clothing, and people who view Highland Dress as fancy-dress costume.

Just from a practical engineering standpoint it doesn't make any sense to tie the laces at the widest part of the lower leg, where gravity and the taper of the leg will work together to make the laces slip down to the narrowest part of the leg.

The perfect analogy is wearing a wristwatch around the widest part of the forearm instead of at the wrist.

People on this very forum have advocated wearing Ghillie laces high up the calves and pinning the laces to the socks so the laces can't fall down! It would be like gluing your wristwatch to your forearm so it doesn't slip down to your wrist.

I don't pin the laces on any of my other shoes. Once again it's Highland Dress as costume versus clothing.

In contrast to the Viking-style lacing, here's how men who have worn kilts and Ghillies since they were youths tie their Ghillies.