Why don't people wear their kilts more?

[Karl R]

In Houston, one does not regularly see people wearing kilts.

On Saturday, I took my wife to a dinner theatre show. Since the dress code was listed as "semi-formal / formal," I wore my wool kilt, black Barathea Argyll jacket, waistcoat, necktie (with a St. Andrew's knot, of course), etc.

The venue was fairly small. According to the seating chart, it seats about 125. My wife and I ended up sharing a table with a couple of strangers. When the gentleman saw my kilt he said, "Damn it! I should have worn my kilt." On our way out after the performance, another gentleman mentioned that he had a kilt.

Based on that (admittedly non-representative) sample of the population, there should be almost 5% of the Houston population who owns a kilt. However, I almost never see men wearing kilts.

The previous time I wore my kilt out (where there were 100-150 attendees) another person mentioned that he owned a Utilikilt. (It wasn't the kind of event that you'd wear a Utilikilt to, so he had an obvious excuse for not wearing his.)

I think the average person can easily spend a year in Houston without seeing anyone wearing a kilt. Clearly, the number of people who own kilts is noticeably higher. It kind of makes me wonder why people don't wear their kilts more often around here.


As people have previously mentioned on this forum, Houston is a surprisingly kilt-friendly city. It's multi-cultural and cosmopolitan. Despite the lack of people wearing kilts, people barely blink when I wear mine.

[DaveScott]

This is not just an issue in Houston as I have had the same experience here in New Zealand.

A number of times when I have been kilted in the city of Wellington guys have said they have a kilt and “should wear it”. Seems to me it takes a willingness to stand out from the crowd - and once doing so many people are complimentary and interested.

So, can't say I am in a kilt everyday, but certainly once the weather gets cooler it is a great option here. And one to be envied for!

[Jock Scot]

I wouldn’t worry about it my dear chap. I stay(live) in the Highlands of Scotland and I haven’t seen anyone wearing the kilt.....not even in the mirror.... in about the last six weeks. That also includes two trips to Glasgow and one trip to Edinburgh. It is quite normal in my experience.

[neloon]

If you don't wear the kilt all day every day, it's just a kind of fancy dress - like a top hat and tails.

Alan

[Jock Scot]

Interestingly, I have worn tails, top hat lurks in the car, twice in the last few weeks! For me its no big deal, kilts, or tails, or plus fours, or cord trousers, or dinner jackets, or trouser waders, etc., when the appropriate occasion occurs as a matter of course.

As an afterthought. The wearing of clothes out of context would and does bother me personally quite considerably and if others do it, I just wonder why? Funnily enough, I was passing a garage(filling station) the other day and saw a chap in a morning suit filling up his car------it did look rather odd-----on the other hand I was being driven----wearing a morning suit--------to a wedding and the thought crossed my mind if the chap I saw was going to the same do? He was!

[figheadair]

Scotland, and to some degree the UK as a whole, is very different to N. America .

Here's a typical scenario. I will be travelling to Southampton on Saturday to lecture at the Southern Costume Society's meeting.

Do I wear a kilt or jacket and tie! A kilt would be logical given the tartan related lecture but the thought of having to explain myself all the way up and down is off putting. Why are you wearing that? Are you going to the rugby? Etc., etc. I can be rather tiring and perhaps explain the reason why many of us in Scotland chose not to wear the kilt, even when seemingly appropriate, outside of the Highlands on a regular basis. That said, this is an exception and I may choose to tough it out.

[OC Richard]

I have worn kilts, or tails, or plus fours, or cord trousers, or dinner jackets, or trouser waders, etc., when the appropriate occasion occurs...

This concurs with my thinking and practice.

From the standpoint of a musician, to the question

"why don't people wear their kilts more?"

I might counter by asking

"why don't people wear their tuxedos more?"

because for me Highland Dress and tuxedos are specialised clothing I wear when working as a musician.

But as far as the OP's experience goes, at that concert I too would have worn Highland Dress because I've not owned a suit in decades. I can't see going to the expense of buying a suit that I would very rarely wear (being as I'm in Southern California) when I have Highland Dress that will serve when needed.

[jhead7090]

I saw a piper in a kilt here in Edinburgh just the other day so you must have missed him, Jock, on the corner near Waverley Station. Apart from that and myself a few weeks ago I would say that Scotland is a pretty kilt-free zone.
Interesting that Houston, Texas has a few kilt-wearers though. I would imagine that is more than you would find here in Houston, Renfrewshire.

It's not just Houston, I live in Kansas City (Kansas side). I attended Lodge last month wearing a kilt and was approached by a couple of Lodge brothers who stated that if they had known someone was going to wear a kilt they would have worn theirs. We seem to have more than a few of kilted ones, although their rarely seen, helps that we're the home of J Higgins.

[Tarheel]

I only know one person here in Oxford that has a kilt besides me but there is a new member of the Rabble I haven't met or seen yet. However, when I wear my kilt out, people recognize me and can guess my activity or destination due to the level of dress I have arranged or where they see me. It would be hard to believe I was headed for a party when I walk into the hardware store wearing a utility kilt, t-shirt, boots and bandana wrapped around my head.

Most of the time I am kilted for a social outing and a level of dress slightly above the normal attire of the public I meet here. Still, not many seem surprised.

[Tobus]

I would guess that the reason most people don't wear the kilts more regularly is simply because they don't want to be the only one in a kilt. It's a social phenomenon, where most people don't want to stand out from the crowd and be thought of as an oddity. Even if the kilt is accepted, it still comes down to feeling uneasy being the only person wearing that style of clothing in a group. Or, rather, one needs to be in a certain mood or mindset to want to be the only one dressed that way.

Or at least that's what usually drives the decision for me. If we're going out to dinner or some such, and I'm standing in front of my closet wondering what I should wear, I often find myself thinking, "I could wear my kilt and I'm sure I'd look great, but I'm just not in the mood for drawing attention to myself." However, if I know someone else there will be in a kilt too, the decision gets a lot easier.