SCA & RenFaires

[Rathmir]

I have been reading my way through several threads and caught mention of the SCA. I did not want to hijack a thread so I ask this here: would a "great kilt" be more "period" than one of the "modern" quilts? Period would be considered pre-15th century or according to persona (as far back as the fall of the Roman Empire). I have the feeling that a "great kilt" would indeed be the way to go. The problem with it being, I live in the south and easily overheat. Of course, I think that would mean I need to find a fabric store and and buy 8 yards of double wide fabric. Any ideas or input?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The earliest documentation for wear of what we today call the "great kilt" is 1594. (The cutoff date for SCA time period is 1600, FYI). Modern kilts are, well... modern. So yes, for pre-1600 reenactment, the great kilt is the way to go.

But don't despair about wearing 8 yards of double width woolen fabric in the heat. The original feilidh-mor contained nowhere near this amount of cloth. Four or five yards ought to suffice.

Let me recommend a couple of articles for you I have written on the subject.

The Early History of the Kilt

Generations of Highland Dress

The Evolution of the Kilt, Part 1

The Leine

Good luck, and have fun!

[Nick the DSM]

Matt has some good articles for what would be accurate.

Unless you are working there, don't stress toooooo much about being correct. Have fun. It's important.

[Downunder Kilt]

This SCA thing and "Great Kilt" has always been something questionable to me. As Matt says, the first documentation of the great kilt is in 1594 and to my way of thinking if it was being utilised much before that then there would have been some mention of it in some documented history. I will be generous and say that it was "hidden" from observation for 10 - 15 years taking the date back of its inception to 1580, yet we have groups that proclaim themselves as teaching about history and what was worn in various time periods wearing the great kilt eg. the Royal Guards of Mary, Queen of Scots.

The comments above have no bearing on Renfairs in general where I believe most go to have a bit a fun and are not trying to convince anyone that what they are doing or wearing has any historical correctness

[ScotFree]

I can only imagine what the British must think of Ren Faires. A bunch of Yanks wondering around in questionable historical clothing at best all spouting bad cliches with horrible accents. But, man I love 'em!

[Tartan Tess]

Yes, the SCA "Game' is pre 1600. Not only does that leave out great kilts (OMG Braveheart and Rob Roy movies were wrong) but also the Pirates that are everywhere are incorrect too. Some people play the game more serious than others. At Pennsic for instance, there is a camp that you can not live in or even go into unless you are 100% authenic with clothing, food and language etc.
The rest of us wear the best we can to be respectful but if your budget is limited you are not going to be dressed in LINEN and after two weeks of camping in 95 degree weather, your "Garb" gets interesting.As long as you make an attempt, the SCA events are OK with it and if the group you have doesn't like what you are wearing they will offer you "Loaner garb"
At Pennsic (15,000 people) I see quite a few knife pleated traditional kilts and even ladies skirts being worn occasionaly. My reaction to the latter is they just don't know and would be mortified if they did and the real kilt wearers just want an oppertunity to wear their kilt. The great kilt wearers usually come out at night.
I make what I call "Belt kilts" and sell them at SCA events(so it is OK with them).
You take your fabric and pleat it, sew down the pleats a few inches from the top and hold the whole thing on with your belt. The top part of the kilt folds over so it looks more like a little kilt.
If you PM me I would be happy to help you with better instructions how to make one. I am sure there are also many threads on this
if you search.

[OC Richard]

We have a group at our local Ren Faire which is very persnicketty about their dress, and follow the known evidence very carefully. Here's their site

http://www.maccolin.com/

As far as we can tell, Highland Dress is a branch of the old shared dress with Ireland, and the further one goes back in time (granted that the evidence is meagre) the more similar old Irish and Highland dress is.

So the old dress consisted of a leine (large baggy shirt), ionar (short jacket with pleats around the bottom), crois (handwoven decorative waist sash), brat (mantle or cloak, often made of plaid wool, and often with a fringe all around), and pamputai (homemade sealskin or deerskin moccasins).

For whatever reason the brat continued to be worn as a mantle in Ireland and evolved into a cape, while in the Highlands the brat began to be wrapped around the waist, and evolved into the breacan-an-feile (literally the "folded varigated").

Some early depictions of the breacan-an-feile show it with contrasting fringe all around, revealing its connexion to the old brat.

One thing these very history-conscious Ren Faire people do, is avoid using any modern Clan tartans, as they did not exist in the 16th century. They go to a fabric shop and buy random plaid wool in patterns which look vaguely tartanlike but are not any modern recognisable tartan.

But! Ren Faires are supposed to be about having fun! And you'll see people in modern (late Victorian) kilts, Utility kilts, camo Utility kilts... and you'll see people dressed as pirates, Star Trek, Steampunk, and pretty much anything you can imagine.

A word about Braveheart: evidently the costume designer had seen images of the old breacan an feile, and also of the modern small kilt worn with a long plaid, and got the two confused, and invented a bizarre mix of the two, sort of a breacan an feile with an impossibly long narrow bit which wraps around the chest.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Yes, the SCA "Game' is pre 1600. Not only does that leave out great kilts (OMG Braveheart and Rob Roy movies were wrong)

Actually, the 1995 Rob Roy film got it quite right, in terms of the clothing depicted. Remember that Rob Roy lived from 1671-1734 and so we are looking at a later period in this movie. The kilts, as worn in the film, are accurate for the time period -- this is one of those few occasions where we can say Hollywood got it right in terms of Scottish clothing.

[Tartan Tess]

Glad to hear that Matt. Thank you, as Rob Roy is one of my favorite movies!
I think the best point is to remember to have fun with it....and also that 8 yards of double width will be 16 yards!
Lots of good threads on making and wearing great kilts around here.

[Oberu]

Good Point Tartan Tess! My first go at a great kilt was 9 yards of double width fabric.. it was a truly "Great" kilt and I looked like a bowl of soup in a sandwich after a few minutes. I've found that 4 1/2 or 5 yards of double width fold up quite nicely for me (32" waist)