IT is a contest that has been held for hundreds of years on one of Scotland’s furthest-flung outposts, little known to the outside world.
As the Festival of the Horse gets under way on Orkney, girls parade in colourful and outlandish costumes, some with fake hooves stuck to their shoes and tails fixed to their jackets.
The event pays tribute to the area’s agricultural roots and each contestant is vying to be picked as the best show horse for the year.
But now the quaint island ritual has made the jump from its island home on South Ronaldsay to the catwalks of London, Milan and Paris after serving as the inspiration for fashion designer Charles Jeffrey’s latest collection.
READ MORE: Orkney archaeological find may be ancient 'figure' stones
Seeking to incorporate elements of Scottish culture into his designs, he said he was blown away by the elaborate outfits worn by the children at the annual event, which were like nothing he had encountered in his native home.
The designer, who studied at Central Saint Martins College, said: “I was just like: ‘This is literally amazing. I can’t believe this is Scottish. It looks almost African. Or Norwegian.”
The Festival of the Horse, which runs alongside the equally obscure Boys Ploughing Match, dates back as far as at least 1816, when it was first recorded.
Originally only open to boys, it became a girls event after the Second World War and originally saw costumes made out of the children’s smart Sunday suits, with all manner of shiny gewgaws sewn on for the day.
The idea is to mimic the decorations world by plough horses at agricultural shows, and nowadays the main part of the outfit is an ornamented harness studded with sequins, jewellery and anything else its creator thinks may make an impression.
Hair is plaited to resemble a horse’s tail, and blinkers, bits and bridles may also be added, while fringes are sewn on to cuffs to mimic horses’ hairy hooves.
Writing in the National Trust guide to traditional customs, published in 1985, author Brian Shuel said: “All the items are profusely decorated literally like the most overloaded Christmas tree, with bells, baubles, tinsel, beads, rosettes, ribbons, tassles, plastic flowers, cracker novelties and anything else which may come to hand during the several generations it took to being hem to their present advanced state. You could hardly see the girls underneath it all.”
Some of the costumes have been handed down for generations, and have been updated and embroidered as time goes on.
Such links to history are a far cry from the cutting-edge collection unveiled by Mr Jeffrey in London this month, which critics have hailed as his most accomplished yet.
A devotee of London’s club scene, Charles Jeffrey’s Loverboy label has been compared to that of famous designer Alexander McQueen.
He said the costumes worn during the festival on South Ronaldsay were “visually rich”.
The designer added: “I was immediately inspired by that, and then started thinking about how they could be translated into pieces which we could put onto a catwalk.
“I was very much drawn to the idea of replicating the embroidery, but trying to use it in a way that would work for us.
“I’m also an illustrator, so I did some of my own motifs and then rendered them in the same aspects that you would find on the Festival of the Horse costumes.”
READ MORE: New flood warnings as Orkney predicted to have highest water levels for 15 years
Aside from the costumes, the festival also sees boys compete to plough the beach, using miniature hand-made rigs, which may themselves be more than
100 years old.
The contest was once held using a stick with an ox hoof tied on the end, but after a local blacksmith made the first replica child-sized plough, contestants swapped over. The boy’s ploughing match is the only surviving event of its type on Orkney although similar events were held on neighbouring Burray and Stronsay.
Each boy has an hour to plough his allotted patch of sand, with the winner being judged on who has the best lines.
Moira Budge, from South Ronaldsay, is a member of the committee which runs the event. She said it was startling to see it make the jump into high fashion, adding: “In one of his designs he has a hoodie and he’s put ears on it, which is like some of the outfits which have little ears for the horses.
“He’s had feathering on some of the shoes. And one dress with a big heart on the front, because the horse wore quite elaborate decoration on its breastplate.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here