Aboyne dress

[3] A typical Aboyne dress consists of a dark bodice or elaborate waistcoat, decorative blouse, full tartan skirt and sometimes a petticoat and apron.

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 name derives from the Aboyne Highland Games[5] 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.

[6] 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.

[citation needed] The men would continue to dance in traditionally male kilt and jacket, wearing bonnets and sporrans.