Style, Fashion Rules, traditions, Flat caps, and the missing element...

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Take the combined use of a belt and buckles. In the 19th century the buckles were what held up the kilt. Doubtless the belt evoked a bygone era to them at the time, when it was the belt that held up the kilt. How ironic then that people now copy them and also wear both together?

I'm assuming that by "buckle" here you mean the leather straps and buckles used to hold the kilt on. I clarify because the belt, too, of course has a buckle.

So assuming I am reading you correctly, you suggest that the leather straps and buckles were the way kilts were held on in the 19th century and so therefore now considered "proper" by traditionalists.

This is not really historically accurate, however. I have examimes nineteenth century kilts that have been closed with buttons, tied with ribbons, fastened with cloth straps and buckles (not leather), or more often than not, held on with nothing at all but the waist belt, or sprung steel pins.

So your premise that straps and buckles were standard in the nineteenth century, and therefore the only thing considered "proper" by today's traditionalists, is not accurate. Nor, I would argue, is your premise that nineteenth century fashion is the standard that traditionalists still hold for Highland dress.

I think that we can certainly take a good deal of inspiration from the nineteenth century, as many of the elements of Highland attire have roots in that era. But Highland fashion is a living fashion, and it is continually evolving -- even among those who consider themselves "traditionalist." I'd actually argue that the traditional idea of "proper Highland attire" really draws more inspiration from the early and middle twentieth century than the nineteenth. But my main point here is that Highland dress is a contemporary, living fashion, a true National Dress, and not an attempt at period costume limited to any one era.

[O'Callaghan]

I'm assuming that by "buckle" here you mean the leather straps and buckles used to hold the kilt on. I clarify because the belt, too, of course has a buckle.

So assuming I am reading you correctly, you suggest that the leather straps and buckles were the way kilts were held on in the 19th century and so therefore now considered "proper" by traditionalists.

This is not really historically accurate, however. I have examimes nineteenth century kilts that have been closed with buttons, tied with ribbons, fastened with cloth straps and buckles (not leather), or more often than not, held on with nothing at all but the waist belt, or sprung steel pins.

So your premise that straps and buckles were standard in the nineteenth century, and therefore the only thing considered "proper" by today's traditionalists, is not accurate. Nor, I would argue, is your premise that nineteenth century fashion is the standard that traditionalists still hold for Highland dress.

I think that we can certainly take a good deal of inspiration from the nineteenth century, as many of the elements of Highland attire have roots in that era. But Highland fashion is a living fashion, and it is continually evolving -- even among those who consider themselves "traditionalist." I'd actually argue that the traditional idea of "proper Highland attire" really draws more inspiration from the early and middle twentieth century than the nineteenth. But my main point here is that Highland dress is a contemporary, living fashion, a true National Dress, and not an attempt at period costume limited to any one era.

Clearly my chronology is out by quite a bit. Thanks for pointing that out. Actually, I was just looking at another thread with victorian pictures of highlanders, and in those pictures the jackets mostly looked like doublets in a faux military style, such as only pipe bands now wear, or else some were argylls, and not one PC jacket, and all the shoes were buckle brogues of the type with a large buckle on the front, and not one pair of ghillie brogues. This also tends to support what you said about the 'traditional' style being early 20th century and not 19th.

Do you not think though, that wearing a supernumerary belt with a kilt that is already supported by straps probably started as an attempt to get the look of an older kilt that was held up by a belt, and continues because people think it's the thing to do, without conscious thought?