Hats

[jsrnephdoc]

That's the thing, in a place where it's not all that uncommon a style you would just look like a person wearing a hat.

It reminds me of Western Wear. If a local duded up in Western Wear in Scotland it could be taken as a person impersonating a cowboy. But in Texas they'd just be a person wearing clothes.

My wife's father was a "famous" (in quotes because back then they didn't get any mention in the credits) Texas Cowboy movie stuntman, with a shrine in the Ft. Worth "Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame." He was also a sprinter for the U Texas Longhorns, leading to an Olympic Gold in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and a brief few months with the LA Rams until someone suggested that given his background his knees were more likely to survive celluloid bar fights than collisions with cornerbacks in the NFL. Although Christine grew up in "The Valley," her dad returned back to his roots on a ranch near Graham, TX after he retired from the movie business. Every time we went to see him I marveled at the sheer NUMBER of "Stetson" boxes almost functioning as wallpaper stacked against the perimeter of his living room.

He doubled Robert Redford in several films; they weren't exactly friends, living at polar opposites on the political spectrum. But he certainly returned to his roots, papa to two small herds of Longhorns and a few horses "down on the Brazos" and surviving to age 92!

But your comparison of what I might wear to dinner to a guy strutting down the Royal Mile in a Stetson and a pair of Tecovas is certainly unsettling. I'm kilted often enough that I don't feel like a cartoon, and even when my only bit of Celtic wear is a Balmorral, I get lots of truly approving questions and NEVER any rebukes or looks of astonished amusement here in Montana. Indeed, I'd feel more uncomfortable in Western Wear than i do in a Kilt and Argyll or sweater, because the former are more foreign to my own roots.

And I remain curious about what you think of the second red fox dress sporran pic I posted in the active "sporrans" thread.

[Jock Scot]

-------- but the bottom center hat in OC Richard's assembly looks really nice.

-----

That particular bonnet I would describe that as a "fore and aft".

I am not in any way wishing to stir up a "hornets nest" but I do find it strange and amusing that you chaps will wear the Scottish kilt quite happily and shy away from wearing perfectly typical Scottish bonnet.

[jsrnephdoc]

That particular bonnet I would describe that as a "fore and aft".

I am not in any way wishing to stir up a "hornets nest" but I do find it strange and amusing that you chaps will wear the Scottish kilt quite happily and baulk at wearing perfectly typical Scottish bonnet.

No "stirring" needed. Deer Stalkers are seen atop heads in the local Montana winters quite commonly. I'm just more comfortable in a Balmoral or Glengarry. My dad was fond of his fedoras, and my wife's dad was never separated from his Stetsons, but I wear neither, ever.

I'll keep searching for a nice wool "fore and aft."

[spr0k3t]

I wear hats a lot (including a flat cap, but that never with a kilt).

Color me curious on this one. Why not wear a flat cap with a kilt? While I have a couple other bonnets that are not of sportsball variety billed hats, I think the flat cap does go well with the kilt. Especially for casual wear.

[gsmacleod]

Color me curious on this one. Why not wear a flat cap with a kilt? While I have a couple other bonnets that are not of sportsball variety billed hats, I think the flat cap does go well with the kilt. Especially for casual wear.

Depends on how you are planning to wear the kilt but there is, at a minimum, a robust debate as to whether wearing a flat cap while kilted is traditional.

If one is wearing a bonnet while kilted, I think the balmoral is a fine choice (for most levels of dress but would simply avoid a bonnet for formal occasions). If one is looking for more sun protection, some of the options mentioned is this thread are going to be more effective than most.flat caps.

Shane

[Troglodyte]

Thats great! However, be aware there is another style that looks similar, but with flaps on. Often called a "Sherlock Holmes", I and others would call it a "Deer Stalker". You need to be aware of this, as the THREE names are often ,rather confusingly, mixed up depending on who is selling them. Both styles are good and the flaps do have their practical uses in wet and windy conditions found out on the hill, river, or loch, although perhaps they look a tad theatrical. Both styles are a common sight in the more rural areas and particularly amongst those that partake in country sports.

BE WARNED!

Make certain sure that you are buying the bonnet that you think you are buying! It is very, VERY easy to end up talking at cross purposes with the vendor. Pitfalls are present to trip up the unwary. Genuine and honest mistakes are lurking, due to this shambles of labelling.

The flapped sort I have always known as a deer-stalker (although Sherlock Holmes only ever wore a '...flapped travelling-cap...' according to Dr Watson), and the fore-and-aft as just that, or as a ghillie-cap - which is what I generally call it. The great thing about the style is that they can be folded flat, peak-to-peak, and stuffed in a bag or pocket very conveniently.

My father used to refer to his tweed bucket-hat as a 'Paddy-hat' for reasons he never explained to me.

The trouble is there is no set name for any of the hat styles, although generic terms like 'county cap' are usually unterstood by everyone to mean a tweed flat-cap.

You're dead right, Jock, urging caution when buying hats online - as each retailer has their own set of terminology. The eight-section cap is a good example, being known variously as a 'newsboy', 'bakerboy', 'Gatsby' and I have even heard it called a 'pudding'.

What I object to is the insistence by the wearer to curl the peak (you now see it done on classic flat-caps) into some sort of arch, and have it pulled down over their eyes. This tells me what the wearer has been watching on telly, and thinks gives them an authentic 'countryman' appearance, but it seems to be a baseball-cap thing that is done with the tweed baseball-caps retailers.

You can always spot a 'fashion tweed' sportsman in his choice of tweeds and style of wearing. You occasionally see an old boy with his cap shaped by years of use, pulled tight on his his head, and curiously off centre and to one side. I wonder how many seasons the fashion tweeds last...

[Jock Scot]

The flapped sort I have always known as a deer-stalker (although Sherlock Holmes only ever wore a '...flapped travelling-cap...' according to Dr Watson), and the fore-and-aft as just that, or as a ghillie-cap - which is what I generally call it. The great thing about the style is that they can be folded flat, peak-to-peak, and stuffed in a bag or pocket very conveniently.

My father used to refer to his tweed bucket-hat as a 'Paddy-hat' for reasons he never explained to me.

The trouble is there is no set name for any of the hat styles, although generic terms like 'county cap' are usually unterstood by everyone to mean a tweed flat-cap.

You're dead right, Jock, urging caution when buying hats online - as each retailer has their own set of terminology. The eight-section cap is a good example, being known variously as a 'newsboy', 'bakerboy', 'Gatsby' and I have even heard it called a 'pudding'.

What I object to is the insistence by the wearer to curl the peak (you now see it done on classic flat-caps) into some sort of arch, and have it pulled down over their eyes. This tells me what the wearer has been watching on telly, and thinks gives them an authentic 'countryman' appearance, but it seems to be a baseball-cap thing that is done with the tweed baseball-caps retailers.

You can always spot a 'fashion tweed' sportsman in his choice of tweeds and style of wearing. You occasionally see an old boy with his cap shaped by years of use, pulled tight on his his head, and curiously off centre and to one side. I wonder how many seasons the fashion tweeds last...

We are fellow thinkers here and particularly on that dreadful modern idea of "curving" the cap brim. "Paddy Hat"!My father also used that description for those "bucket" hats! It sounds like it might have been a generational thing?

[MacKenzie]

The trouble is there is no set name for any of the hat styles...

Indeed. Search "fore and aft hat" and you get a lot of this.

[jsrnephdoc]

Indeed. Search "fore and aft hat" and you get a lot of this.

It's obvious it's an apt descriptor, but I can't imagine ever seeing "a lot" of it

[Jock Scot]

Indeed. Search "fore and aft hat" and you get a lot of this.

:lol
I think that most people who have logged onto a kilt website would have a fair idea that the bonnet you have illustrated above would probably have a fair chance that that pattern was not the one that was being talked about!