History of Contemporary and Non-Traditional Kilts?

[Bugbear]

I am interested in the history of the contemporary and non-traditional kilt. The history of the Utilakilt is fairly well known, so that's not my focus. They're welcome in the discussion, though. I'm thinking mainly of the non-tartan kilts that would not be accepted as looking traditional.

How long have the non-traditional kilts been around?
From where did they originate?
How has the style evolved?

[Jock Scot]

Good question Ted, I await the answers with interest.

[Bugbear]

Good question Ted, I await the answers with interest.

Well, Jock, you saw a picture of my non-traditional kilt the other day. That was a Buzz Kidder canvas kilt. Buzz Kidder appears to be out of Bisbee Arizona not too far from where I live.

As far as I can find out, it is an American concoction, created back in the nineties, and inspired a bit by the WWI canvas kilt aprons. Were I designing it, I would have done a few things differently. I have made a few minor alterations since the pictures.

* Pictures removed. *

It's the only non-traditional looking kilt I have, so really the only one I can talk about. The Stillwater kilts are fairly traditional looking, and don't exactly fit into this category.

I'm actually hoping The Wizard of BC will enlighten us, seeing as how he is in the middle of all of this.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The way I define "contemporary" or "non-traditional" kilts, they have their modern-day origins with the Utilikilt in America and the 21st Centery Kilts in Scotland. I'm not sure which company originated their product first, but I believe all of the other companies making contemporary styles of kilts have come after, and in some way or another been influenced by those fashions.

But as for simply "non-tartan" kilts, those have been around for as long as the kilt itself, and are very traditional. It has never been a requirement that a kilt be made from tartan, and though tartan has always been the most popular cloth for making kilts, other options have always been there.

The earliest evidence we have of a solid color kilt is in a portrait of Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochow painted in 1635 (recently posted in the historic portrait thread). He's wearing a solid red feilidh-mor.


When artist R. R. MacIan illustrated his figures for James Logan's The Clans of the Scottish Higlands, in 1845-48, he depicted a few of them in solid kilts. Some, like his Ferguson and MacArthur, were his renditions of historic dress (as he understood it), but others, like this MacIntyre in a solid blue kilt, were contemporary depictions.


When we are in the Victorian era, solid kilts, either worsted or tweed, are not hard to come by. John Brown was famous for wearing a solid black kilt.


The ghillies are Balmoral from this era are frequently pictured in tweed kilts.

And some military regiments, such as the London Scottish and the Toronto Scottish, have made solid kilts a part of their uniform.

So solid kilts have always been with us, and I don't really think of them as either "contemporary" or "non-traditional."

[Rollo]

Magistral, mon cher Matt !

[The Wizard of BC]

The history of the newer style Kilts is tied very closely to this forum.

The first person I know of to break the boundaries of three decades of "Tradition" was Howie Nickelsby of 21st Century Kilts. Howie comes from a family of Full Traditional Kiltmakers. (His father is Jeffery (Tailor)). He began making Traditional Hand-sewn Kilts in non-traditional fabrics such as silver lame and Camouflage.

At about the same time Terry Vargas discovered Marton Mills who were experimenting by weaving Tartan from a fabric that is a blend of Polyester and Rayon. Today we call that fabric P/V. Terry started his company "Bear Kilts" and began to distribute them from his house to others.
Bear Kilts took the new Tartan fabric and created a whole new style of Kilt that we today call "the Pub Style Kilt". He was not a trained Kiltmaker so was not bound by 'the rules' and used the sort of construction found in blue jeans with a waistband and a triangular placket in the back where he would attach the pleats.

A group of guys in Philadelphia who liked to wear Kilts to pubs formed a partnership and would sell Bear Kilts out of the trunk of their car. Two members of this partnership who's names you will recognize were Rocky Roeger and Jimmy Carbomb.
These guys couldn't sew either but business was so good they brought on another member to teach them to sew their own Kilts. With the addition of Kelly Stewart USA Kilts was born.

With this new style of Kilt that was machine washable a niche market opened. Highland Games Athletes have always been required to compete in the Kilt. An ultra-simple, machine washable, and very inexpensive Kilt seemed to be a god send to them. Thus Sport Kilts was started in Los Angeles. This started the "Athletic Style Kilt". A Kilt taken to it's least common denominator. Tartan fabric, pleats and not much else. Inexpensive enough to smear with rosin, rip to shreds, and replace when necessary.

In Seattle an enterprising young man was looking for a way to make some money to renovate some double-decker buses for his traveling circus. Steven Viellagas came up with a garment reminiscent of a pair of cargo shorts without a crotch. In just the first couple of days he met a business woman who took his idea, and his passion, and formed the Utilikilts Company. Together they created a marketing plan using volunteers willing to sell their product at Highland Games, Pride Festivals and sci-fi conventions. Sheer genius.

With the rules broken by Howie at 21st Century Kilts, the new machine washable Tartan fabrics from Bear and USA Kilts and the MUG of Utilikilts the world opened up for people like myself to go wild.

Buzz Kidder was a retired Highland Athlete who blended the concept of the Sport Kilt and the Utilikilt.

I started using solid colored Poly/Cotton fabrics like those found in "Dockers" pants and trying to get the look and swish of a Traditional Kilt and the Contemporary Style Kilt was born.

And this forum was where we all came together to talk about this thing we call the Kilt.
There had been on-line forums before where the wearing of the Kilt was discussed. But one man wanted to talk about the Kilt as acceptable male clothing without being taken as a cross-dresser.

Hamish Bicknel had worn the Kilt while performing as a Highland Dancer and knew how a Kilt should be worn and with what accessories and how to do it and not look like he was trying to dress like a woman. Hamish is an untiring advocate of the Kilt as acceptable male fashion. In the beginning he frequented a forum called "Tom's Cafe" but with the death of Tom that forum became the cross-dressers hangout. So a new forum arose called "Bravehearts". The Bravehearts forum used an older bulletin board style that for many is hard to read and follow a conversation when it begins to be more than a few posts long. But the cross-dressers found that forum and began to use it as a platform too.

A young kid who was selling t-shirts at Highland Games began to take photos of some of the people who would wrap themselves in a tablecloth, paint their faces blue and stride around the Games. He began to post some of these photos on the web and talk about them.
Hank Hanna was using an easier forum format and soon X Marks the Scot.com began to grow. It was the stated intent of the forum that Kilts and only Kilts was the topic. It was this well stated and enforced intent that drew Hamish and others who wanted to talk about Kilts as acceptable and respectable male garments. Soon Dr. Nick Fiddes of Scotweb became the first to offer Kilts and Highland wear over the internet. Not long after Bear Kilts, USA Kilts, and Freedom Kilts became advertisers to promote our product, the site, and pay for its upkeep.

So there you have it. A nutshell history of the newer types and styles of Kilt. I didn't want to make it sound like a History Lesson so I left dates out and simplified some details. But you get the jist of the idea.

[Raphael]

Would Sport Kilt fall into this category as well? They have been in business since mid 90's and they are not traditional at well.

[cavscout]

Wow, how do you follow up to that I'm just going to sit here and poke myself in the eye with a fork with a cork on it

To me the feature that really sets a "contemporary" kilt apart from it's more traditional origins is the Narrow Apron. The look is more the intent than the function to me. The proponents for narrow aprons say they maintain modesty better as the narrow apron can fall between the legs when sitting and squatting. Any need for that is likely a result of kilts being made from much less flexible and supple materials such as cotton twill or carhart.

Pockets could arguably be another characteristic but I feel that the highlander would have come up with pockets back then had there not been a need for the kilt to be worn and used in such different ways.

[The Wizard of BC]

Actually Steve, the Contemporary Style Kilt is defined as one that has all the stabilizers and interfacings of a Traditional Kilt but is machine sewn and made from non-traditional fabrics. The apron width of a Contemporary is near in width to that of a Traditional Style Kilt.
Narrow Aprons will usually be on MUG style Garments. Not always, but usually.
The addition of Pockets is a feature in common on Contemporaries, some Pub & Athletic Style Kilts and to MUG's.

As a side note I am the one who coined the term Contemporary Style Kilt. I did so to better define a style of Kilt that retains the hang and swish of the pleats from a Traditional and still separated it from the MUGs

[Bugbear]

Thank you for posting that Wizard.

I did want a history lesson, so would it be possible to come up with a timeline of the dates?


At least a date of the starting point.

I really don't know how to categorize a contemporary or mass produced kilt that looks fairly close to a traditional kilt for this thread. They do belong here, and play a role in the history lesson, but they still look like a traditional kilt.

Other kilts do not look like traditional kilts, and would not be mistaken, at a glance, for a traditional kilt. That does fit into the question of how the style has evolved.

Jock Scot was troubled by the blurry line in the terms between the non-traditional looking kilts and the traditional kilts. In other words, lumping the non-traditional kilts and the traditional, Highland kilts, along with the accessories of either etc, all into the term "kilt."
I posted a picture of me wearing my Buzz Kidder, the one where I'm holding the sticks, and he said that that was not a Highland kilt.
I agreed, and started looking for the line between the two.
This is to respect the traditional Highland kilt and the ways in which it is worn, while looking into the ways in which the non-traditional kilt may begin to be worn as modern attire. I don't know what happens when you bring tartan into a non-traditional looking kilt. The only way to find out is to find a Highland traditionalist, show a picture, and see what the reaction is.

The Wizard of BC has also talked of wearing the non-traditional kilt in modern ways, and that is playing a role in these questions.