Please tell me if I'm being told lies by my bad bf......

[Father Bill]

Semper ubi sub ubi.

[xman]

A kilt is a skirt no matter who wears it. Nomenclature is not intended to limit, but merely describe accurately for the sake of comprehension. Not all skirts are kilts. To be a form of kilt it should have pleats in back and aprons in front.

A military style kilt, whether worn by men or women, say in a pipe band or as a highland dancer or athlete, may for simplicity be called simply a kilt.
A mini kilt is shorter and intended for, please only, women.
Kilts over the knee are referred to as kilted skirts or kilt skirts.
Kilts to the ground are called hostess skirts and are considered formal.

Dancers and athletes of either sex are required to wear undies. Soldiers are required not to. What you as a civilian do is entirely your own business and not even your boyfriend's if you don't want him to know.

[Father Bill]

What you as a civilian do is entirely your own business and not even your boyfriend's if you don't want him to know.

But if you want to keep him on the hook, wondering all night, you could always drop some devious non-clues.

[O'Callaghan]

A kilt is a skirt no matter who wears it. Nomenclature is not intended to limit, but merely describe accurately for the sake of comprehension. Not all skirts are kilts. To be a form of kilt it should have pleats in back and aprons in front.

A military style kilt, whether worn by men or women, say in a pipe band or as a highland dancer or athlete, may for simplicity be called simply a kilt.
A mini kilt is shorter and intended for, please only, women.
Kilts over the knee are referred to as kilted skirts or kilt skirts.
Kilts to the ground are called hostess skirts and are considered formal.

Dancers and athletes of either sex are required to wear undies. Soldiers are required not to. What you as a civilian do is entirely your own business and not even your boyfriend's if you don't want him to know.

I think this is the definitive answer above.

By military style, he apparently means a kilt that is approximately knee length. As he says, that would be just a regular kilt or a ladies' kilt as appropriate. The side it fastens determines the gender it is intended for in exactly the same way as, for example, a jacket, although in the case of pipe bands usually everyone wears kilts that fasten on the men's side.

I think for a celidh a regular ladies' kilt might be best, but it is many years since I attended one, and most of the people there were not in highland dress when I did, so I am not really the right person to ask.

Men seem to be stuck with knee length. If I say that wasn't always so, someone else will disagree and off we will go at a tangent. Where it should fall relative to the knee is the subject of many tedious threads! Mid-knee if you're in the army, otherwise you only have the fashion police to consider.

I have seen women wear a sporran, but it's not usual. Mostly if they do it means they are in a pipe band, but not always. At a festival it would not be out of the ordinary, but at a celidh it would look out of place.

Someone else mentionned billie kilts. That is not exactly a standard mini kilt, but also has a band of fabric at the top with the tartan pattern (the sett, as it's called) cut on the bias. Why they are called that is a mystery to me, but is a common style in ladies' highland wear. Probably someone selling them called them that and it stuck.

One of these days I'm going to get a kilt for my wife, probably long but not floor length, so it would be considered a kilted skirt. Actually, it will have to be exactly the length she wants(!), which is perhaps between a kilted skirt and a hostess kilt. It will cost more than any of mine, though, as it will use more fabric and she will only wear her clan tartan (she is partly Scots and I'm partly Irish, and I am content to wear generic Irish kilts).

[mookien]

Semper ubi sub ubi.

Touche'

[Joshua]

The other questions have been pretty much answered.

My suggestion, in lieu of a sporran, is to bring a sporran-like purse. I think my wife would be driven mad if she were "limited" to only bringing what she could stuff into a sporran... even one of the really big Rob Roy styled ones.

[Frank McGrath]

Semper ubi sub ubi.

+ ***

[Pleater]

Remember that short clothes are a relatively modern innovation - no respectable woman would wear a garment as short as a modern kilt in Victorian times - and although the 'flappers' wore their skirts short in the roaring Twenties (1920s) they would have caused consternation in the streets - longer length coats and capes were de rigeur. It was not until the 1960s that hemlines rose, but they were to be worn with tights, and often with long socks or boots as well to reduce the impact of so much skin. It was not unusual to wear a mini skirt with an ankle length coat.

The standard way to close a kilt is left over right - there is no alteration for women - it is like the kimono in that.

My kilts fifty years ago were fastened on the right, kilts worn by girls or women in old films, photos, knitting patterns, magazine illustrations etc. were closed on the right.

Girls might wear a knee length kilt, but for women the normal length was 27 inches - one half of the 54inch of the standard wool fabric woven back then in British mills.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Father Bill]

Actually my late Mom (b. 1909) was a teenaged flapper in the later 20s. She never said as much, and it never actually struck me until I was going through the photo albums one day. Gave me a real grin.

Remember that short clothes are a relatively modern innovation - no respectable woman would wear a garment as short as a modern kilt in Victorian times - and although the 'flappers' wore their skirts short in the roaring Twenties (1920s) they would have caused consternation in the streets - longer length coats and capes were de rigeur.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[GoodGirlGonePlaid]

It was not until the 1960s that hemlines rose, but they were to be worn with tights, and often with long socks or boots as well to reduce the impact of so much skin. It was not unusual to wear a mini skirt with an ankle length coat.

*sings Cake's "I want a girl with a short skirt and a looooooooooong, long jacket"

Seriously, wool is itchy. Coverage is good. I rec boy shorts.
Remember Brittany, Paris, Lindsay Lohan... girls going regimental ends up on TMZ.