The National Piping Centre received an email earlier this year from a production company working with Dior fashion house, requesting pipers to be part of a fashion show at Drummond Castle in Crieff.
Finlay MacDonald, Director of Piping at NPC, gathered a ‘band’ of pipers from the NPC staff, students from the RCS and colleagues from his band Tryst to be part of the unusual piping engagement. The pipers were Finlay, Ali Hutton, Ross Ainslie, Lorne MacDougall, Ailis Sutherland, Bede Paterson, Emma Hill, Finlay Cameron, David Shedden and Andrew Bova. Brìghde Chaimbeul was also part of the musical company, and she had the starring role of starting the show by leading the models out and down the steep stairs to Drummond Castle gardens playing Scottish smallpipes.
After the first pass of the models, the band of Highland pipers marched out and down the stairs to face the audience and began playing as the models came out once again. It can all be watched on the YouTube video below.
Finlay MacDonald gave some background to the day: “I wanted the piping to be part of the show rather than just an afterthought. So once we had agreed with the production team what our schedule would be for two days, I was put in touch with the musical director, Oliver Coates, who lives in Glasgow and who is a sought-after film composer and contemporary musician.
“I spent time with Oliver to discuss what type of tunes he was looking for and what could simply be done to musically underpin the pipes and how it would fit in with the whole show.
“The first tune that was played was one of my own called The Night Snakes, as he was looking for a march type of tune that had a tribal feel to it. It has a repetitive simple melody that builds layers into the harmony. Then we played some Gordon Duncan reels, which Ross Ainslie, Ali Hutton and I began, and then were joined by the other pipers.
“There was an audience of celebrities, fashion industry people and social media influencers, and the setting of Drummond Castle gardens was simply stunning.
“All the pipers were backstage, and it was a massive production with a few hundred people involved either as models or hair, makeup and clothes staff.
“The production company had asked to see photos of the Highland dress that each piper would wear, and they were happy with the individual styles, and we all got makeup and hair done before the show.
“We had a full day of rehearsals on the Sunday and then back up on the Monday for the show, which only lasted about 30 minutes! Though there was a nice after show party, and we were made to feel very welcome by everyone.”