Ghillie brogues - why the dislike and resentment..?

[timemeddler]

people dislike brogues? why? I'd wear them, they look like they'd be great for those who have sweaty feet problems.

[Jock Scot]

people dislike brogues? why? I'd wear them, they look like they'd be great for those who have sweaty feet problems.

Ummmm to be clear here, it is the ghillie brogue style that is under discussion , not brogue( brogued) shoes in general. There is a marked difference.

[timemeddler]

Ummmm to be clear here, it is the ghillie brogue style that is under discussion , not brogue( brogued) shoes in general. There is a marked difference.

Oh, okay, I'm looking into getting a pair of the dancing type.

[figheadair]

Oh, okay, I'm looking into getting a pair of the dancing type.

For clarity, they are called Ghillies, but never brogues.

[OC Richard]

I'm looking into getting a pair of the dancing type.

Are you going to be doing Country dancing? Or perhaps Highland dancing?

Those are the very Ghillies for that.

But they're not designed for being used as shoes in the ordinary sense, being thinner than even Native American moccasins.

Perhaps more suitable would be the Ghillie-inspired footwear I've seen.

They strike me as a hybrid of modern Ghillie-brogues, Native American moccasins, and the RR McIan illustrations.

https://nativearth.net/product/ghillies/

This particular maker is in California and they had a booth at one of our Highland Games.

In person the shoes looked sturdy and well-made and would stand up to quite a bit of use. I've seen these being worn at local Renaissance Fairs.

[timemeddler]

Are you going to be doing Country dancing? Or perhaps Highland dancing?

Those are the very Ghillies for that.

But they're not designed for being used as shoes in the ordinary sense, being thinner than even Native American moccasins.

Perhaps more suitable would be the Ghillie-inspired footwear I've seen.

They strike me as a hybrid of modern Ghillie-brogues, Native American moccasins, and the RR McIan illustrations.

https://nativearth.net/product/ghillies/

This particular maker is in California and they had a booth at one of our Highland Games.

In person the shoes looked sturdy and well-made and would stand up to quite a bit of use. I've seen these being worn at local Renaissance Fairs.

square dancing actually.

[OC Richard]

square dancing actually.

With Scottish Country Dancing you're up on your toes whenever you're in motion, which is why the dancing Ghillies are so thin and flexible. They don't really have soles per se.

Now with Square Dancing the whole foot can be in contact with the floor right? So you'll probably want actual shoes with some kind of soles.

Actually back in the 1980s when I was an avid Country Dancer my partner and I were out at a folk festival and we joined in with the Square Dancers. Seemed to us that the two kinds of dancing had all the same basic sorts of steps, though they called them different names. Once we learned what names went with our familiar steps we had no problem following the caller.

And we thought "how cool would it be to have a caller in Scottish Country Dancing!"

Because we have fixed dances that we have to learn and memorise in advance.

[OC Richard]

A week ago I visited Vindolanda, a Roman fort a bit south of Hadrian's Wall.

(For those not aware the Romans manned forts both north and south of the wall. No-one knows what system, concept, or purpose these forts, and indeed the wall itself, fit into.)

Due to the oxygen-free bacteria-free soil leather, wood, cloth, etc are perfectly preserved and over five thousand Roman shoes have been recovered. (The shoes found were ones which had been discarded by their owners, thus the poor condition of many.)

Of the few on display, these had an uncanny resemblance the proto-Ghillies drawn by the Allen Brothers and "RR McIan".

Being as the Vindolanda shoes weren't discovered until 1973 one wonders just what the Allen Brothers based their "ancient Highland" footwear on. Is the resemblance coincidence, or something else?