Slightly confused.

[Pleater]

Even within a uniform, just a slight alteration can make a difference in the effect whilst being difficult to define just what exactly what it is that does it.

When I was doing costumes for one Shakespear play - the one where a girl is shipwrecked and dresses to look like her brother, there was a problem because the two playing the roles of brother and sister were a very alike brother and sister - and the girlyest one was the man.

It was necessary to put the man into sturdy heeled boots, make the jacket longer and looser at the waist and put a quilted lining in the back and over the shoulders to beef him up, then narrow the waist and shoulders for the girl, make a softer rounded collar, daintify with lace edgings as otherwise it was difficult to tell the two apart - particularly at the dress rehersal when she'd had a cold and spoke gruffly.

Uniform - if cleverly done, can still show differences, it is just a matter of getting it right.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[HarborSpringsPiper]

I'm switching gears here a little bit but reading this thread and watching some of those film clips from the Scottish archives got me wondering about the changes that have occured with female Highland dancers' apparel. I've seen mentions of SCD on the site but don't recall much if any discussion about Highland dancing. Maybe there's a forum here I haven't looked at.

This is what I have been used to seeing since I got involved back in the early '70s and don't see it has changed much in the last 30 years, in N. America to my knowledge anyway. I know the local dance group still dresses like this, with a dancer's kilt, flap opening on the right, vest and no sporran.




As I was watching those old film clips, the thing that really struck me was all of the female dancers were wearing sporrans, hair sporrans at that. In addition, they were all dressed in full kit with doublets, short plaids and bonnets. I can understand that over time things have simplified to a vest and much of the rest was dropped. I never paid much attention to the old pictures of girls' sporrans though before, or that the girls' dancing kilt aprons open on the right.

I'm wondering if there are any dancers here who could comment on the change in attire that has occured. I think one of those clips was from the '60s showing the girls in full-attire including the sporrans in Scotland. I have no idea how quick the changes took place around the world, but I never saw that in my neck of the woods a few years after that was filmed. I guess it makes sense that the female dancing attire was originally patterned after or was a feminine version of men's Highland attire, as Highland dancing was originally a male activity.

As far as pipers, I never really questioned the same attire issue. When I started playing back then, I never ran across any of the female pipers in Michigan or Ontario wearing anything different than any of the guys in the bands. I always understood the kilt was a male garment, however, the concept of uniform seemed to trump that.

I knew quite a few female pipers back then, though they were in a clear minority. Interesting though that I ran into a woman who lives locally who teaches Highland dancing. I didn't know her very well in my youth but our paths had crossed. Her brother is a piper and she bemoaned that she never learned to play the pipes. She wanted to back then but her parents wouldn't let her because she was a girl, therefore she would dance. I think they still had some kind of an over the top "traditional" mindset, despite the fact we are talking about the early '70s. I think we're making some progress in the world.

[McFarkus]

Thanks for the history lesson.

[Rex_Tremende]

Alex posted some photos of a lady piper some months back, and I recall that she had her own feminine style, while remining also distinctly a piper. Would love to see those posted here again for reference.

Regards,
Rex.

[bricelythgoe]

My piping instructor is my cousin, who happens to be a girl. Not uncommon at all.

[Nighthawk]

It seems odd to my eyes- the clothes don't look right on the wearer. There is a pipe band in Denver that leaves the uniform open for it's women- they dress in much more feminine attire, for the most part, and I personally like it. I can't remember which band it is, though...

[OC Richard]

There is a pipe band in Denver that leaves the uniform open for it's women...

That's odd... the very word "uniform" means "one form" so it's really an oxymoron to leave the uniform open. I guess a band like that couldn't really be said to possess a "uniform".

By the way PM Evan MacRae won the Gold Medal at Oban that same summer, a few weeks after that photo was taken. I believe he was the oldest person to win the Gold.

Here's another photo of PM MacRae taken at that same piping school. I don't remember the name of the other guy. That guy lived in Spokane at the time as I recall, but had lived in the Los Angeles area back in the 1940's and was the piper in those old Shirley Temple movies etc, if I remember correctly.



Here's the often-reproduced photo of PM Evan MacRae as PM of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders. It must have been taken in the period from around the end of WWII up to 1960 due to the fact that the QOCH switched from Cameron of Erracht kilts to Royal Stuart kilts in the immediate postwar period, and the QOCH was amalgamated with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queens Own Highlanders around 1960. By the way, the Pipe Major of the Cameron Highlanders was required by tradition to wear a full beard, the only beard in the Scottish regiments save for pioneers. The photo shows another interesting facet of the Cameron uniform: it was the only Highland regiment in which the pipers wore full hose with buckled brogues (instead of spats) for most orders of dress.



And here's another photo of a "ladies pipe band".

[Chas]

Thanks OC. I knew I only had to ask about the cuffs and a reply would be forthcoming. I am really taken with his jacket, it is certainly the only double-breasted kilt jacket that I have seen. I am trying to remodel a tweed jacket to use as a kilt jacket. If it works then maybe a double-breasted version could be on the cards.

Thanks again.

regards

Chas

[Nighthawk]

That's odd... the very word "uniform" means "one form" so it's really an oxymoron to leave the uniform open. I guess a band like that couldn't really be said to possess a "uniform".

When I say "open" I mean that they have the option to wear the woman's equivalant of the mens uniform- long skirts, jabots, etc, instead of kilt and Prince Charlie.

[Bigkahuna]

Ya gotta love a woman with a knife in her sock!!!