Aboyne dress

A typical Aboyne dress consists of a dark bodice or elaborate waistcoat, decorative blouse, full tartan skirt and sometimes a petticoat and apron. Some have a tartan sash (usually draped over the shoulder and coming down towards the hem of the skirt in the back) rather than an apron. While appearing to be simple and plain, a properly made, modern Aboyne dress might and can be quite expensive. In one version, a tartan pattern skirt is worn with an over-the-shoulder plaid, a white blouse and petticoat, and a velvet bodice. The alternative is a white dress over a petticoat, together with a tartan pattern sash. == History ==

The name derives from the Aboyne Highland Games in Scotland where, in the early 1950s the dance committee under games patron Lieutenant Colonel John Wilmot Nicol DSO of Ballogie, dissatisfied with the state of affairs of female Highland dance attire, prescribed new rules governing acceptable and better-looking attire for the female dancers. The problem, as they saw it, was that many felt that the female and male dancers should not be wearing the same outfits and that a separate style for women should be developed. About 1949, the committee banned female dancers from wearing the kilt, sporran or medals. By 1952, they introduced an alternative attire of white blouse, tartan skirt and long black stockings, then for the September 1954 games, a new attire was introduced for all female dancers (previously it did not apply to girls between six and eleven). To this day, however, at the Aboyne Highland Games, the wearing of the Aboyne dress by women is strongly "preferred", except for the sailor's hornpipe and Irish jig. == See also ==