Quote Originally Posted by PiobBear View Post
Most non-military Victorian sporrans you see in pictures are goat, not horsehair (If I can ever find a decent cantle, I'm going to make one. Fashionable or not, I really like the look with evening wear).
Mixed. I seem to have seen all kinds of hairs.

1. They're supposed to be overwhelming. Consider the Argyll officer's full-dress "swinging six":
One can well argue that the entire Highland regalia is intended to be "overwhelming".

I would, however, be careful with the "military" and "civilian" divide since they both, in the context of Highland garb, play off one another. At the core, however, of nearly all our modern "civilian" suiting (business to leisure suits) is a "military" uniform. Uniforms were throughout the modern industrial era the motor and inspiration to fashion.

Horse hair sporrans (in their functional forms) I see, like full mask sporrans, as "universal". As suited (or one might argue ill-suited) to day as to evening attire. The gold guilt officer's sporrans I find a bit too much (unless, of course, one is an officer) but the standard issue sporrans with white metal and patent leather cantles I think are very nice. My favorite pattern is the Black Watch (5 balls). The badges one can view as "fan gear" or (again, in contrast to the officer's pattern) easily replace with something less specific (despite pattern).