Highland dress

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Highland dress is the

, sometimes with a clan badge or other family or cultural motif.

Modern Highland dress

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Western dress codes and corresponding attires
Formal (full dress)   White tie  Morning dress  Full dress uniform Frock coat  Evening gown  Ball gown
Semi-formal (half dress)   Black tie  Black lounge suit   Mess dress uniform Evening gown  Cocktail dress
Informal (undress, "dress clothes") Suit  Service dress uniform Cocktail dress  Pantsuit
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Supplementary alternatives Ceremonial dress law courts royal courts diplomatic academic, etc. Religious clothing cassock, habit, etc. Folk costume Distinctions Orders medals, etc.
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In the modern era, Scottish Highland dress can be worn casually, or worn as formal wear to white tie and black tie occasions, especially at

ceilidhs

and weddings. Just as the black tie dress code has increased in use in England for formal events which historically may have called for white tie, so too is the black tie version of Highland dress increasingly common.

The codification of "proper" Highland dress for formal and semi-formal wear took place during the Victorian era, and these styles have changed little since then (e.g. the Prince Charlie, Sheriffmuir, and regulation jackets have an antique appearance, being based on Victorian military doublets of

Regardless of formality level, the basis of all modern men's and women's Highland dress starts with the tartan, either as a kilt, trews, arisaid, sash, or tonnag. Tartans in Scotland are registered at the Scottish Register of Tartans in Edinburgh, a non-ministerial department and are usually aligned to a clan or branch of a clan; however, tartans can also be registered exclusively for an individual or institution, and many "district" or "national" patterns also exist that have no associations to particular families or organisations.

Historically, weaponry formed a common accessory of men's Highland dress, such as the mattucashlass and the dirk. However, due to the UK's knife laws, small sgian-dubhs and sword shape kilt pins are more commonly seen today.^[3]

For men's and women's shoes,

Highland dress may also be worn as a folk-costume option at events requiring morning dress. As such, for formal day-wear use it generally consists of:^[4][5]

Men:

• Plain superfine wool or
  tweed Argyll
  -, Crail-, and Braemar-style kilt jacket
• Belt and buckle or five- or six-button waistcoat in matching grey, putty, complementary or tartan material in matching colour
• Kilt
• White shirt with
  cufflinks
• Long tie in a single colour or striped regimental style
• Black
  brogues
  (according to some views, brown shoes should never be worn with Highland dress, although such are worn by the royals)
• Tartan, argyle, diced, or plain coloured dark hose (white and off-white hose should be avoided)
• Flashes or garter ties
• Day or horse hair sporran
• Morning dress sgian-dubh (less intricate than for the full dress and typically made of horn or antler).

Formal evening wear (white tie)

The traditional white-tie version of Highland dress consists of:

Men:

• Formal kilt doublet in barathea or velvet. The regulation, Montrose, Sheriffmuir and Kenmore doublets are suitable in a variety of colours. Velvet is considered to be a more formal material. The Prince Charlie jacket (coatee) is considered to be less formal,^{[by whom?]} although when introduced it was to be worn with a white lace jabot. Tartan jackets are also seen.
• Waistcoat in white marcella, tartan (usually to match the kilt), red or the same material as the doublet. No waistcoat is worn with the Kenmore or Montrose doublets.
• Kilt with formal kilt pin
• White stiff-front shirt with
  wing collar
  and white, gold, or silver studs and cufflinks for the Regulation doublet, or a white formal shirt and optional lace cuffs for the Montrose, Sheriffmuir, and Kenmore doublets
• White lace jabot. A black silk or a white marcella bow tie may be worn in place of the jabot with the regulation doublet (Highland wear often includes a black bow tie even at white-tie events).
• Black formal shoes or black buckle brogues
• Tartan or diced kilt hose
• Silk garter flashes or garter ties
• Silver-mounted sporran in fur, sealskin or hair with a silver chain belt
• Black, silver-mounted and jeweled sgian-dubh
• Highland
  crest badge (only worn outdoors)^[6]
• Short belted plaid with silver plaid brooch (optional)
• Scottish dirk (optional)

Semi-formal day wear (black lounge suit equivalent)

The semi-formal version of Highland dress consists of:^[4][5]

Men:

• Black or charcoal semi-formal
  kilt jacket in superfine wool or barathea – Argyll
  -, Crail-, and Braemar-style jackets are suitable
• Five- or six-button waistcoat in black, grey, putty or tartan
• Kilt
• White shirt with
  cufflinks
• Tie in a single colour
• Black brogues
• Tartan, argyle, diced or dark hose (white and off-white hose should be avoided)
• Flashes or garter ties
• Day-dress sporran with simple designs and often in black leather – however, a full dress sporran is not considered inappropriate
• Day-dress sgian-dubh (less intricate than for the full dress and typically made of horn or antler)

Semi-formal evening wear (black tie)

Traditionally, black-tie Highland dress comprises:

Men:

• Black, or other solid colour,
  Sheriffmuir doublets
  are too formal for black-tie occasions)
• Black waistcoat
• Kilt
• White shirt with
  wing collars are reserved for white tie
  )
• Black bow tie
• Evening dress
  brogues
• Tartan or diced full-dress
  David Lumsden of Cushnie^[7]
• Silk flashes or garter ties
• Dress sporran with silver chain
• Black, silver-mounted
  sgian dubh
• Highland bonnet with crest badge (only suitable outdoors)^[8]
• Miniature medals (if authorised)

Historical descriptions

In 1618, a poet from London,

• 
  Highland chieftain Lord Mungo Murray wearing belted plaid, around 1680.
• 
  A woman wearing an

  earasaid, and the typical hairstyle of a married woman, with a child in Matheson

  tartan (1845) from a description of 150 years before.
• 
  A member of Clan MacNeacail, from The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, wearing a tonnag R. R. McIan (1845)
• 
  Portrait by

  Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry

  in 1812.
• 
  Campbell of Breadalbane (~1845-1847)
• 
  Costumes of All Nations (1882)

Gallery

• 
  Boy wearing open necked velvet doublet, kilt and plaid (1898)
• 
  Highland Dress advertisement (1957)
• 
  Black Barathea Silver Button Argyll (BBSBA) jacket, worn with a five button waistcoat and long tie for day wear (2006)
• 
  A modern style of

  ghillies

  made specifically for dancing (2006)
• 
  Piper playing the

  Great Highland Bagpipes in traditional Scottish piper's uniform (2010)^[a]

1. ISBN 978-0-7486-6464-1
   .
2. ^ Cheape (2012), p. 14.
3. ^ "Sgian Dubhs". TartansAuthority.com. Scottish Tartans Authority. Archived from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
4. ^ ^{a b} "So that's how to wear your kilt". The Scotsman. 17 May 2004.
5. ^ ^{a b} "What to Wear?". Scottish Tartans Authority. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
6. ISBN 0-00-472529-8
7. Telegraph.co.uk. The Daily Telegraph
   . 12 September 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
8. ISBN 0-00-411114-1
   .
9. ^ Taylor, John, Early Prose & Poetical Works, London & Glasgow, (1888), pp.49-50.
10. ^ Martin, Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, (1703), pp.208-209: quoted in Robertson, ed., Inventaires de la Royne Desscosse, Bannatyne Club, (1863) p.lxviii footnote.
11. ^ Hume Brown, P., Early Travellers in Scotland James Thin (1891 repr. 1978), 269-270, 272, quoting Morer, Thomas, A Short Account of Scotland (1715)
12. ^ Craig, A. (1837). Parish of Bedrule. New Statistical Account of Scotland (vol. 3). Edinburgh: Blackwood.
13. ^ The Scottish Register of Tartans.
14. ^ Moffat, A. (2015). Scotland: A history from the earliest times. Edinburgh: Birlinn.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Highland dress.

• The Scottish Tartans Authority - Registered Scottish Charity
• Martin Martin, A description of the Western Islands of Scotland, London (1703)
• Clans of the Scottish Highlands Fashion Plates from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries