One of our own in the paper

[Ducky]

pugcasso made the local paper... Congrats

Cold weather, occasional giggling won’t change his clothing choice, made back in October



Giggling schoolgirls and a few cursing strangers aren’t enough to stop David King from wearing a kilt.

The Halifax artist donned a kilt last October and has since decided that he prefers it over pants.

“You don’t feel so confined or something,” says King, 40.

“Pants for men in the Western world seem to be pretty much the norm in modern times, but for most of history, it wasn’t. Even Romans thought pants were for barbarians.”

King has worn a kilt every day since last October. He wore pants just once when he had to walk a long way in freezing temperatures.

“Then I put the kilt over the top of my pants,” he says matter-of-factly.

“I plan to continue to wear kilts. I don’t see any reason not to,” he said Friday.

King, a painter, says his desire to wear less modern garb comes from his desire to live a simpler life. He has a concern about large corporations, which he feels have growing control over people’s lives, including their wardrobes.

“I wasn’t liking aspects of the modern world.”

He wants to wear the kilt “because it is a more authentic type of clothing or something and has a history to it.”

“I just had an attraction to the kilt.”

King was born near St. John’s, N.L., but grew up in Nova Scotia. His mother, an Anderson, was a Newfoundlander. He believes his great-great-grandfather on his mother’s side came from Scotland.

But regardless of ancestry, King believes that anybody should be able to wear a kilt.

“Why not? It is just a piece of clothing,” he said.

Friends and family have taken King’s everyday kilt-wearing in stride, but reaction from members of the public has been mixed .

He remembers one woman in a Dollar Store swearing at the top of her lungs when she spotted him. But there have been compliments as well, and many strangers have stopped him to strike up a conversation about kilts.

King has two kilts, one of which is the Black Watch tartan. Sacred Heart School, a private school in Halifax, uses that tartan in its school uniforms.

“That is something I discovered afterwards,” said King.

“It is quite funny when you are on Spring Garden Road and the (schoolgirls) are on their break. They are all wearing their little skirts and they are all kind of giggling at me.”

His other kilt is of a more generic design.

King said kilts weigh quite a bit, which he likes, and are comfortable in most seasons, but can get a little chilly in the dead of winter.

“In the winter (a kilt) is maybe a little eccentric,” he concedes.

King said that it is not unusual for women he doesn’t know to stop him on the sidewalk to ask him what he is wearing under his kilt.

“I’ve had that (happen) a few times. It’s kind of funny because if I did that I’d be put in jail.”

By CLARE MELLOR Staff Reporter

[Bidule]

All of us, here in XMTS, have to be proud of our choices... And, by the way, in the winter, a good traditional woolen 16 oz knife pleated kilt is even warm as trousers!!!
Slainté !

[Joe I]

I had to laugh, not because of anything said in the artical, but because I hung out with a guy named David King for 20 years, though I haven't seen him in 2 or 3 years. I'd love to see him in a kilt w/ his long legs he'd need at least a 30'' kilt leanth. I like this story
***