Is Tweed Acceptably Traditional?

[seanachie]

I saw on Robert Pel's blog http://www.rkilts.com/blog/ that he is introducing Tweed kilts. The pics look very nice. I also noted it is Scottish tweed. I have also purposely put this in the traditional sub forum. So what say you, is tweed considered traditonal ? If not is it considered acceptable by traditionalists?

[MacLowlife]

I began thinking about your question before I saw the blog. There are already some good examples of tweed kilts, the first to come to my mind being the Hodden Grey. However, I think the tweed kilt shown on the blog could be characterized as a fashion tartan- it is after all, plaid, but not tartan. So long as they are made like the one shown, I think they fall pretty well within THCD, but that is only one opinion.

[creagdhubh]

Of course it is! (cue Matt to 'chime in' here, as he creates, wears, and looks great in tweed kilts, doublets, and plaids!) There's a Macpherson chap, from Aberdeenshire, I know very well that often wears a kilt made of 5-6 yards of tweed. He wears the kilt whilst out hill walking with the clan every time we gather in August. He told me once that he also wears his tweed kilt whilst participating in other outdoor pursuits - he mentioned, "mainly for comfort, ease of movement, and so I don't take a chance damaging my Macpherson tartan kilts!" Many other Macpherson men typically wear older tartan kilts with unusually, very large setts, specifically for use out on the hills.

Slainte,

[Jock Scot]

Interesting one this. Whilst I have seen many tweed kilts in picture form here and have actually seen some singularly unimpressive, apart from the price, tweed kilts for sale at the House of Bruar, I have only ever seen one tweed kilt actually being worn and that is in a fairly long lifetime. So, depending on how it was constructed, I suppose a tweed kilt could be regarded as traditional.

[creagdhubh]

Interesting one this. Whilst I have seen many tweed kilts in picture form here and have actually seen some singularly unimpressive, apart from the price, tweed kilts for sale at the House of Bruar, I have only ever seen one tweed kilt actually being worn and that is in a fairly long lifetime. So, depending on how it was constructed, I suppose a tweed kilt could be regarded as traditional.

Interesting Jock. Yes, I have only seen one person (in person) actually wearing a knife pleated, tweed kilt as well - the Macpherson chap in which I had discussed previously. Besides him, the only other people I've seen wearing a tweed kilt, and this has only been through photos, is Matt Newsome and Robert Amyot, granted, they wear their tweed kilts very well!

Someone please feel free to either correct me if I am wrong, or 'add to,' but I believe the tweed kilt become very popular during the nineteenth-century, and especially well into the Victorian era, when the wearing of tweed (mainly for country attire, perhaps?) was generally popular by virtually all British subjects.

Kind regards,

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Nice to see that Robert has discovered the joys of working with tweed cloth! Looking at his blog, it seems that his tweed kilts will be made along fairly traditional stylings, as opposed to the more contemporary kilt style of his other offerings.

I would say tweed kilts are certainly traditional, though not typical. Evidence for them can certainly be found in the nineteenth century. And I recall Bob Martin talking with me about making tweed kilts for clients in the 1980s so you couldn't really call them a modern day (meaning 2011) revival.

I always like it when I get an order for a tweed kilt because I think they just turn out so well, whether solid, in a check or windowpane pattern, or even in a tartan. But they are certainly the minority of my orders, by far!

Here is my current favorite Harris Tweed kilt.



I had the tweed woven to order in a pattern based off of this kilt (the colors are darker in the original portrait, which is from 1859).


Here's another of my personal kilts I made from organically produced tweed from Ardalanish on Mull.


And another Harris Tweed kilt I recently made from tartan, in this case the Stephenson Hunting tartan.


We don't often think of Harris Tweed as a tartan, but the very first length woven back in 1846 was in the Murray tartan!

[JSFMACLJR]

I think tweed kilts are traditional, but quite rare. I'v seen one man in Scotland wearing one, Herr Bruno Schroder.

I have a photo of my grandmother and her brothers and sister and cousins with their grandfather Sir Sandford Fleming, in which one or two of the boys are wearing tweed kilts.

I am considering having a kilt made up in Harris tweed, but it would be in MacLean tartan. That Stephenson kilt made by Matt Newsome is wonderful!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Sandy,

I just took an order not long ago for a Sinclair tartan tweed kilt. I'd love to do one in MacLean for you. You just need to decide if you want the red or the hunting! :-)

[M. A. C. Newsome]

This makes me remember the first Harris Tweed tartan kilt I ever saw was being worn by Ruaridh Halford-MacLeod, first cousin to the clan chief and president of the UK Clan MacLeod society, at the Stone Mountain Highland Games probably in 1998. It was a four yard box pleated kilt in the MacLeod of Harris tartan.

I don't have a photo of him in it, which is a shame. But here is a pic I found online of a suit made up in the same tweed.

[CMcG]

<snip>So what say you, is tweed considered traditonal ? If not is it considered acceptable by traditionalists?

Given that the traditionalists have said that the fabric itself is a traditional choice for kilts -- though uncommon -- I think the other question is construction. If a tweed kilt is made in the same style as a traditional tartan kilt then OK. If it is made in some other way, then it would not be traditional.

And FWIW, in addition to M.A.C. Newsome and Ancienne Alliance, I believe Arlen, Hamish, and Redshank also have tweed kilts.