Acceptable attire?

[Panache]

Ham,

Something I thought worth mentioning here regarding Balmorals, Glengarries, and dress belts with waist plates.

It occurs to me that it has become a fairly typical practice to wear these hats and belts as part of regular day dress in the United States. The hats origin may have been Military but it has been adopted into civilian fashion. Waist plates may have originally been for formal occassions but these have moved to become accepted as daywear.

It is so common a thing here that one can't call it a mistake. This may be a divergence from traditional kilted fashion and a divergence from kilted fashion in the United Kingdom, but I would be hard pressed to call so very many people wrong on this side of the pond. It simply is an American take on the kilt.

There are times I forgo my balmorals for a beret, it is a simpler look that works better with some outfits. To me the balmoral and glengarry can be worn successfully as part of one's daily attire. They do require (especially the glengarry) a bit of flair or perhaps panache to pull it off, but I hardly think it "costumey ". Now I can understand that wearing a glengarry or balmoral with a Jacobite shirt might look a bit odd as one is mixing eras and influences. A tam would be a better match with such a shirt.



Cheers


Jamie

Of course the comment that was passed was quite ridiculous, but I have to side with Daz and Arlen (in particular). Although I wear a Balmoral in my avatar, I am most definitely NOT a 'hat person' and will wear it only when I want to present a certain image on a special occasion. Actually, I loathe hats and consider Glengarries and Balmorals to be rather too costumey or uniformy in this day and age. Generally, as Daz and Arlen have indicated, Glengarries tend to be worn here in the UK (which includes Scotland!!!) almost exclusively by members of pipe bands and solo pipers. Balmorals, in my experience, are seen on the heads of Officials at Highland Gatherings and Games, but seldom anywhere else. Pausing for a moment to think about this: I believe there is a cultural difference showing up here. Could it be that the majority of our American brethren consider themselves, maybe subconsciously, to be undressed unless they have a hat on their heads? Whilst here in Europe, we chaps mostly do not wear hats at all. Of course there will be exceptions to this and I am thinking very much in general. Take care, Ham.

[Hamish]

Ham,

Something I thought worth mentioning here regarding Balmorals, Glengarries, and dress belts with waist plates.

It occurs to me that it has become a fairly typical practice to wear these hats and belts as part of regular day dress in the United States. The hats origin may have been Military but it has been adopted into civilian fashion. Waist plates may have originally been for formal occassions but these have moved to become accepted as daywear.

It is so common a thing here that one can't call it a mistake. This may be a divergence from traditional kilted fashion and a divergence from kilted fashion in the United Kingdom, but I would be hard pressed to call so very many people wrong on this side of the pond. It simply is an American take on the kilt.

There are times I forgo my balmorals for a beret, it is a simpler look that works better with some outfits. To me the balmoral and glengarry can be worn successfully as part of one's daily attire. They do require (especially the glengarry) a bit of flair or perhaps panache to pull it off, but I hardly think it "costumey ". Now I can understand that wearing a glengarry or balmoral with a Jacobite shirt might look a bit odd as one is mixing eras and influences. A tam would be a better match with such a shirt.



Cheers


Jamie

[Firstly, I must apologise for no paragraphs appearing in my posts. Since a friend kindly installed Firefox on my computer last week, the layout I type here, with all its breaks, high-lights, underlinings, etc., reproduces as a solid block of bland-looking text. I am sorry! I have inserted forward slashes to indicate new paragraphs!!] Hi Jamie, and thank you for your observations. / I feel that perhaps I did not express myself as clearly as I might. Believe me, I was in no way suggesting that anyone might be mistaken, in error or wrong for wearing a Glengarry or a Balmoral (or any other form of headgear), should they wish to. I was trying to state the matter of hat wearing as it applies to me - what others do is entirely up to them. As we all have said, and no doubt will continue to say: there are no 'rules', only personal opinions and what we construe as 'good taste'. There is 'tradition', which has to be considered, but that is another 'ball game'. / The trend in recent years for dress belts and waist-plates to be worn as day wear, is as much down to Highland Dress suppliers (probably as a result of hire/rental convenience, like white hose!) as anyone - but I cannot help disliking it and preferring a traditional pronged buckle belt for general day wear myself. The provision of chain straps by default with day sporrans should be included here. This is, I suppose, all part of the evolution of the kilt itself, a development of which I firmly support (I will encourage anyone and everyone to step outside the traditional/tartan box occasionally, to explore Freedom Kilts, 21st Century Kilts, Union Kilts, R-Kilts, Utilikilts, AmeriKilts, and other variations of our beloved garment). / You are, of course, correct when you say that it is an American take on the kilt - apart from Howie Nicholsby, who thought up TFCK in 1996 and launched it in 1999, the meteoric development of the contemporary kilt has been due to North American designers, to whom personally I am grateful. / The accessory in question, however, is the hat. As I have said, headgear is not really for me - I think I look ridiculous in most types and I not only feel uncomfortable when wearing a hat, but I also feel self-conscious! Crazy? Perhaps, but it's the way I am. My reference to American males and hats was the result of not only my own observations, but also of those of others over here. It really does seem that most of you chaps do prefer to wear hats most of the time. I am not talking expressly of Scottish headwear here, but of headwear in general - you guys do like your hats. Everyone surely discusses, away from their computers, what they see and read on these forums, and I have many times heard chaps in conversation ask, "What is it with American guys and their hats?" I don't really know the answer to that, but I suspect it has something to do with the extremes of weather you suffer in North America which we do not. / So, to come full circle: I did not intend to suggest that anyone over there had made a mistake or was wrong in their choice of headwear and, if my post came over that way, I apologise. I have many good friends in North America, especially among the kilted fraternity, and the last thing I would wish to do would be to insult them. Take care, Ham.