If you’re not interested in the history of the kilt, don’t read this – you’ll find it boring as h***!! - this is for those like myself who are interested in history in general and this topic in particular. There are those who like to claim that “history is bunk”, “history is written by the winners” etc., but in this case there are no winners or losers, just an attempt to follow a line of evolution and separate fact from fiction. In any event what is history but a record of past events which help explain why you are where you are and if you’re willing to learn from history then past mistakes and consequences are less likely to recur – otherwise you’re going to spend your life constantly “reinventing the wheel” (end of lecture!).

For the benefit of those who missed the last thread on this topic, I have taken the liberty of reproducing a combined abridged version of previous posts on the history of the kilt. Whilst these were based on publications by acknowledged world authorities on the history of Scottish and Irish clothing, I am, and we all should be, aware of the dangers of using single source information (eg WMD and Iraq), and accordingly the only information used was that either where the original source was given and could therefore be verified or where there was agreement on conclusions.

There is a great deal of misinformation about the kilt out there. Unfortunately one of the chief pieces of misinformation is that the kilt is a”descendant” of the Irish leine, brought over from Ireland by the Gaels. The leine was a long shirt/tunic/smock type one piece shaped garment, generally made of linen, which reached from the neck to anywhere between mid-thigh and ankle length although widely worn at the shorter length, was put on by pulling over the head, had arm holes/short sleeves/long sleeves, could be straight, full or pleated (pleating had been known for centuries), was often padded or quilted and usually worn with a belt. The brat was simply a mantle or cloak which could be made of any material but most commonly wool, sometimes hooded, worn over the leine. Contrast this with the kilt, which is a long piece of woollen material which is firstly part-pleated and wrapped round the waist then the plaid part is wrapped over the shoulder and the whole ensemble worn as an outer garment, and it becomes difficult to see any connection. There is also unanimous agreement amongst all authoritative writers that it was around the 1500s, and in Scotland only, the woollen belted plaid aka the great kilt first appeared, and it is this garment and not the leine which was the forerunner of the kilt as we know it today.

When the Gaels first came to Scotland they wore firstly the leine and then subsequently the great kilt followed by the little kilt, and there is plenty of documentary evidence, both pictorial and old writings, dating back to pre 1600 which clearly show all three garments were worn about 2-6ins above the knee up to the time of proscription. Before Queen Victoria came to the throne (1837) the kilt and tartans were firmly re-established and pre-Victoria pictures show that the length had settled at about top of kneecap level. During Victoria's reign photographs, a much more accurate method of making pictorial records, began to appear and some of these early photos taken of the royal court, including the faithful John Brown, show kilt wearers with knees clearly on display

With regard to the development of the little kilt, the concensus of expert opinion nowadays is that this was simply the product of gradual evolution from the mid/late 1600s onwards rather than a single “invention” in the early 1700s, brought about by changes in socio-economic conditions and developments in agricultural practices. It tends to be forgotten that the original great kilt was actually formed from 2 pieces of material joined together to make not only an item of clothing but also a blanket for sleeping rough outdoors on the hills, and as social and agricultural changes reduced the need to sleep outdoors so did the need for a portable blanket and correspondingly the need to join the pieces together, eventually resulting in the 2 pieces being worn separately as the little kilt and plaid. There do not appear to be any records indicating when the pleats first became stitched rather than simply gathered and held by a belt, but I understand that the oldest existing example of a stitched kilt, recognisably similar to that worn today, dates back to the late 1700s and is in a Canadian museum.