Gentlemen, polish your shoes

[kevinkinney]

..They are, always!



Kevin

[Jock Scot]

Hear Hear! If you have shoes that will take polish, then do polish them!

[ChubRock]

I think it is safe to say the Jock Scot is back! Welcome Home!

[Livingston]

Looking at all of the photos of Highland Games that have been posted I have noticed that very, very, very few gentlemen seem to polish their shoes when kilted (please, no comedians with smart remarks about trainers, sandals, flip flops, etc.). If you are going to wear "proper" shoes, the least you can do is polish them.

I suspect that in some quarters shoe polishing is a lost art.

I am with MacMillan, especially on the "proper" bit. I do believe a good polish is a lost art. Remember the guys at the train stations and airports, oh and outside the barber shops, and I am not that old either.

Hear Hear! If you have shoes that will take polish, then do polish them!

I ALWAYS polish my shoes. If I'm going to be on my feet for a long number of hours where I need to wear something more comforatble, I'll even polish up my black runners so that they look their best. Of course, the soles give them away but at a quick glance they work and ARE polished. Well, at least they were before the dust got on them.

[EagleJCS]

One of the things my father insisted my brother and I learn to do was polish our shoes. It has since become a habit for me. I don't wear my dress shoes without at least brushing them up (dusting and removing the lighter scuff marks) before leaving the house. I agree with some others that polishing shoes is becoming a lost art, as I see more and more scuffed dress shoes - when I see them worn.

I don't always wear my gb's with my kilt. Sometimes (rarely) I'll wear hiking boots or tennis shoes (trainers to the overseas folks). At the very least, I try to make sure my footwear is clean, at least when I put them on and leave the house.

[Dall_Piobaire]

...and shoes are one of the first things those women in those short skirts notice. Though I do wonder what those Xena types notice

[McMurdo]

I agree it is nice to have well polished shoes, however the Games are not the best place to keep your shoes looking their best. Either it's dry and therefore dusty or it rains and the shoes get soaked. For myself I do my best to keep my shoes looking good even if I'm camping, in fact the photo below taken at last years Fergus highland games was taken on the Saturday, I had camped and it had rained the entire day Saturday.


My buckle brogues are kept at a high polish however I do not wear them to Highland Games. I think the important thing to remember is wear the correct apparel for the venue, Highland Games are not too conducive to polished shoes. Just as you told me at the Loch Norman Games that your kilt was not the best thing to wear when you had such a long drive.

[dfmacliam]

If the shoe is a type that takes polishing, then by all means polish them. If they are oil tanned, I usually dab a bit of polish on my brush and give them a once over, being sure to get around the heal and sole.. Use a bit of edge dressing for the final touch up. One should take pride in their appearance, it how we present ourselves that others tend to judge.

[ForresterModern]

When I attended the Strathmore Highland Games in Forfar, Scotland, at Glamis Castle last year on my trip to Scotland I was surprised to see just about everyone who was kilted (pipers, judges, dancers, spectators, clan tent members--practically everyone except the competing athletes) was fairly decked out in full proper daywear attire, including black shined brogues, proper headwear, and nice day jackets, with the pipers obviously in their uniform of whatever level was intended. Surprised me as I was the casual one with a mock turtleneck top, my balmoral, and comfortable hiking shoes (Merrells). It was a lovely sunny day and there was little dust and no mud to deal with as it was held in a lovely heavily grassed pasture of the castle grounds.

I think Highland Games may be treated a bit differently here in the states than they are over in the homeland. Strathmore Games was supposedly a fairly large regional games but still relatively small overall by comparison to some of the games I have attended here in the states, and I am pretty new in this game. I have noticed a much more casual approach to the games and dress here than I saw at Strathmore, despite the difference in size. Smaller but more formal at Strathmore, larger but more casual here in the states.

That may account for some of the differences in opinions about even whether to wear your GBs' to a games or not. I have a nice brown pair I wear to day events with matching brown belt and sporran, etc....

[McClef]

A pair of good shoes can be quite expensive so polishing them is nothing more than they deserve.