Sporran and Shoe Color

[Jock Scot]

I appreciate all of the helpful input gentlemen!

As for the ghillie brogues, they were the required footwear when I was the best man in a Highland dress wedding so, since I have them, I wear them

Crumbs! I ask this purely out of interest, Why insist on wearing ghillie brogues? Surely any appropriate shoes would be suitable? If someone suggested that I had to wear those dreadful ghillie things, I would not attend the event. Sorry, as far as I am aware shoes in this part of the world, that choice is left to the discretion of all, for a civilian wedding.

[jsrnephdoc]

Here's where the question comes in. I think with the overall color palate it will look very nice to have a brown sporran instead of the more common black. My ghillie brogues are of course black. In modern suiting it would be a terrible mistake to mix black shoes with a brown belt, but does the same apply with shoes and sporran for a kilt outfit? I have brown wingtips I could wear for a better match, but also really like ghillie brogues with a kilt. Not only do I want to honor the kilt by wearing everything correctly, but I also want to honor our friends by looking my best for their wedding. Advice from the rabble will be most appreciated!

This very topic generated several divergent opinions just a few months ago (I think the original poster has been an afternoon outdoor wedding guest by now, and might even chime in).

He had chosen deep cherry or mahogany shoes, and some argued they should be black. However, also discussed extensively here is that, although Ghillie Brogues are "popular," they are NOT derivative from any historic highlands attire. One member here has stated he thinks they were "invented" by the Sobieski Stuarts (the English Allen Brothers, who were apparently very skilled con artists; there's a nice biography of their exploits on Wikipedia).

I believe the other wedding guest wore his gorgeous mahogany wing tips to the afternoon wedding he attended.

You'll probably receive as many separate opinions as you do responses. But, in the end, unless guests in kilts outnumber those in "saxon" business suits, I'm sure your own sense of good taste will be much admired. And almost all rules are "made to be broken."

My parents attended two Clan Gatherings in Pitlochry. I have a photo from one of those events showing my Dad standing next to the Clan Chieftain. The "big boss" is outfitted, mid-afternoon, in a PC/Waistcoat, but also a broad leather belt and sliver buckle above a cantled black dress sporran.

I didn't search for the earlier thread, but I don't think it would be difficult to find. I'm assuming your Glen Affric fabric is coming from House of Edgar?

And, of course, we'll all expect photo documentation come November

[jsrnephdoc]

Crumbs! I ask this purely out of interest, Why insist on wearing ghillie brogues? Surely any appropriate shoes would be suitable? If someone suggested that I had to wear those dreadful ghillie things, I would not attend the event.

You and others have pointed out that Ghillie Brogues are NOT a product of Highlands history, more likely an invention made in the interest of making money, and therefore promoted by the Hire industry.

But, I don't know why they must be considered "dreadful." They're now recognized the world around as "Scottish," and they can be comfortable shoes, and when worn with properly hued kilt hose they're not bad looking, either. They're worn by many Scottish pipe bands and diaspora bands who WISH they were performing in Glasgow.

I'll freely admit that I was initially seduced by the fanciful notion that their historical origin lay in the fiction that "servant" Ghillies wore them to carry their masters through peat bogs because, sans tongues, perforated on the forefoot, and laced up the legs, they'd dry quickly once back on dry land or pavement, and because of those laces not get deposited in the peat. Nice story, but entirely made up some time in the 19th century, apparently.

But then, the whole notion of "family" or "clan" tartans is entirely fictitious as well

[TNScotsman]

Crumbs! I ask this purely out of interest, Why insist on wearing ghillie brogues? Surely any appropriate shoes would be suitable? If someone suggested that I had to wear those dreadful ghillie things, I would not attend the event. Sorry, as far as I am aware shoes in this part of the world, that choice is left to the discretion of all, for a civilian wedding.

Ah, but you see, it wasn't the groom, but the bride who was, in what I believe is a proper Scottish term, a real beastie. I very nearly refused to be in the wedding party when she dictated that all of us had to be in Black Watch instead of our own tartan even though the groom was wearing his own. Nothing whatsoever against Black Watch, it was just a last minute dictate that sat badly with me. After getting over that insult the choice of shoes didn't even register as an issue. The wedding remains to this day the only one I've ever even heard of where the bride was angrily yelling about things DURING the ceremony

[TNScotsman]

You'll probably receive as many separate opinions as you do responses. But, in the end, unless guests in kilts outnumber those in "saxon" business suits, I'm sure your own sense of good taste will be much admired. And almost all rules are "made to be broken."

I didn't search for the earlier thread, but I don't think it would be difficult to find. I'm assuming your Glen Affric fabric is coming from House of Edgar?

And, of course, we'll all expect photo documentation come November

I'll likely be the only one there who's kilted, but will be so to the delight of the groom and his family and with the wholehearted approval of the bride. Several times I've served as greeter/assistant/stand-by security as a kilted gentleman at Daughters of the British Empire events for the ladies of the family.

My Glen Affric is sadly going to be an acrylic, although a traditional 8-yard version, simply out of frugality. As much as I'd like to have real wool from the House of Edgar the budget doesn't line up with the cost right now, but aside from the real purists nobody seems to object to a well-made acrylic in spite of them not swaying quite the same way as wool. My Campbell of Cawdor kilt is 13-oz wool, but given that they have specifically requested the guests not to wear green, that one was a non-starter.

Photos will certainly follow! My wife plans to wear a dress with a color that closely matches my hose, so we should be quite the couple (mainly due to her presence, not mine).

[Jock Scot]

Ah, but you see, it wasn't the groom, but the bride who was, in what I believe is a proper Scottish term, a real beastie. I very nearly refused to be in the wedding party when she dictated that all of us had to be in Black Watch instead of our own tartan even though the groom was wearing his own. Nothing whatsoever against Black Watch, it was just a last minute dictate that sat badly with me. After getting over that insult the choice of shoes didn't even register as an issue. The wedding remains to this day the only one I've ever even heard of where the bride was angrily yelling about things DURING the ceremony

Ahh! I see! A tad tricky then.