X Marks changes

[Alan H]

When I first started reading X Marks the Scot, I remember a roughly 50/50 distribution between "modern" kilts meaning at that time, mostly Utilikilts, and more traditional, tartan kilts. For some time now I have been feeling that the balance of interest/posts has changed on X Marks. I just, a few minutes ago posted about this in the Modern Kilt Wear forum.

I thought to myself...."I'm going to count".

So I just opened up the General Kilt Talk forum, and went through the last two sets of threads. If the thread was primarily about traditional, or at least tartan kilts, I counted it as such. For example, the thread about the Royal Visit is chockablock full of talk regarding conservative, Scottish kilts, so it went into this category. Some posts, such as DetroitPete's post about the Marine Corps badges, or the Boy Scout kilts, or the Real Estate Agent who puts his ads up with him wearing a kilt, didn't really go one way or the other.

Here's what I came up with.

24 posts directly about tartan, Scottish kilts or accessories such as sporrans or jackets, which are at least "more or less" traditional. This included things like Ali's post about "I saw a guy in a kilt today, the Tartan was purple and black....."

Dark Isle's post which features pictures of his kilt, which is to my mind not quite "traditional" but not quite "contemporary, either... though it's a handsome kilt. It;'s more like a traditional Scottish kilt than a UK, that's for sure.

9 posts about "various stuff" like how a kilt is made, or a badge, or Boy Scouts or a new bonnet or should "I wear a kilt when I go to court?".

1 post about what I would consider a contemporary kilt such as the Utilikilt, R-Kilt, Alphakilt, Union Kilt, X-Kilot.. This one was about a leather Union Kilt. ONE post.

I am very tempted to pick a random date in 2006 or 2007 and go back and repeat the tally in the General Kilt Talk section and see if I'm right. I bet dollars to doughnuts that I am, but I could be wrong.

[Alan H]

A little more clarification.... I put threads like "Harris Tweed Jackets" into the category with "Traditional attire".

OK, I did the experiment. It's lunchtime at work. I went back to 4/9/2006 and I tallied up two pages worth of posts in the General Kilt Talk forum. Here's what I found.

11 posts about traditional kilts or more traditional kilt accessories such a sporrans or tweed jackets

15 posts about generally kilt-rrelated stuff such as: High school girls think it's cool, Kiltstores "Fashhion Kilts" skydiving kilits, SWK Economy models, "Happy Tartan Day", the 2006 "Dressed to Kilt" show, "why do you wear a kilt" and so on.

Threads that specifically mention, UK's, Americkilts, or other contemporary kilts, and this included one thread about "what is the best material" where a lot of the respondents talked about something OTHER than woolen tartan...

7 threads.

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This is a very small sample size, but really I don't have time for this. Get a Life, Alan! but still and all, I think I'm right. The forum has changed, and what I consider the "Contemporary Kilt" is not discussed as much here any more. Is this because they're going out of fashion? Is it because many of us bought those kinds of kilts already and now we're buying tartan kilts? I don't know. I also refuse to judge whether this change is good or bad. It just **is**.

[Jock Scot]

I am sure that you and your facts are right Alan, you have no axe to grind. I think it might be an idea for us to consider this phenomenon in nautical terms: the tide comes in and the tide goes out and maybe the tide is "in" for traditional stuff at this moment in time. Give it another two years and I suspect that the tide may be "out".

[toadinakilt]

Interesting you should mention this. When I joined, back in 2005, I was in college. I thought that Utilikilt's and their ilk were the greatest thing since sliced bread. I ended up with an SWK, but I got it in black shadow tartan, for that "I might be traditional, I might be edgy and modern" look. I also asked a friend to make me an X-Kilt, also in black.

Then I stopped posting on X-Marks for a long time. Until recently, my recent activity was dated early 2009, and I remember clearly it was very limited activity indeed.

Now I'm ready to start afresh. And where is it I want to begin? With a wool kilt, sewn to my measurements. (It'll be awhile 'til the $$$ is all there). Where I previously despised kilt hose as being, well, girly, now I'm drooling over member pictures of handknit hose... And where I used to think a t-shirt was the way to go, now I'm making plans to have a sport jacket altered.

So maybe... I'm just just growing up? Contemporary kilts are a fine thing, to be sure. But I think, after a time, we will all come back to good old traditional wool kilts.

[Alan H]

I am sure that you and your facts are right Alan, you have no axe to grind. I think it might be an idea for us to consider this phenomenon in nautical terms: the tide comes in and the tide goes out and maybe the tide is "in" for traditional stuff at this moment in time. Give it another two years and I suspect that the tide may be "out".

I don't *think* I have an axe to grind. I mean, I am thrilled about my outrageously expensive purchase of a very nice, and very traditional Scottish kilt, which celebrates Scottish wildlife. At the same time I wrote the X-Kilt manual. I see the value of both of those things.

I also have "friends" who are more traditional..like you, Jock. I have some friends who are a bit ..."less traditional", like say for example Monkey@Arms (who BTW, cleans up very nicely for Burns Night every year).

I think you might be right...the tide changes, it may change again. Or not. The only way to find out is stick around, and see.

Again, I'm not saying the change is "bad". Sure, I'd like to see more activity about what I see as contemporary kilts, but that's OK if there isn't. It is what it is. I am sorry if some people don't post here any more because of the changes, but the truth is that nobody is forced to come to X Marks, it's an individual choice.

[MacKay71]

For me, the issue of contemporary vs. traditional is as purely practical one. I wiold prefer to wear my clan tartan kilt all the time. However, since I wear a kilt while involved with my venturing crew in boy scouts, I can't afford to wear my Newsome bok pleat to camp, so I wear a black Ulilikilt as part of my Venturing uniform.

[Chas]

I think you could be on to something here, Alan. Could this be an age thing? Do younger men gravitate to a more contemporary kilt? All boots and scrunched down socks.

I'm 57, but apart from maybe an all black or saffron kilt, I would only consider a tartan kilt.

I wonder what the average age of the members of XMarks are?

Regards

Chas

[AFS1970]

I may skew your stats a bit, but the only kilt I own is the expensive wool variety. I bought is when I was younger, but to me it was something to be worn only at certain occasions, and most of those were formal. I have a good friend who was for a time very much into his modern style kilts but no longer has any that fit due to weight loss. I had not really got into the idea of Kilted culture such as is discussed here and elsewhere, until recently. Now I look for excuses to wear my Kilt, although I doubt that I will ever own a modern one.

[Downunder Kilt]

I think a lot of the posts to this thread have hit the nail on the head.

1.Trends flow like the tide
2. People get into things quite often on the cheap, find that they like it and start to buy quality and upmarket goods.
3. With maturity (as one gets older) people tend to make a choice and stick with it and in my own case, become more conservative. I think this can be seen in many aspect of our lives

Over the last 10 or so years, I have worn jeans far less than I did in my youth. I now prefer to wear the kilt when going out to dinner, movie, well anywhere. When I have to wear p**ts, they are tailored or work ones.
I now dress a lot more conservatively than I did in my younger years.

[Santa Kona]

I am sure that you and your facts are right Alan, you have no axe to grind. I think it might be an idea for us to consider this phenomenon in nautical terms: the tide comes in and the tide goes out and maybe the tide is "in" for traditional stuff at this moment in time. Give it another two years and I suspect that the tide may be "out".

Jock is right fashion comes and goes. If you wait long enough even the items lost in the far back corner of your closet that you hoped you would never have to wear again will come back in style.