So Your Going to Wear The Kilt

[SlackerDrummer]

While there may not be a review per se of So You're Going to Wear the Kilt, it has been much discussed. "Scotty" Thompson has been very influential in American kilt-wearing, but also largely responsible for the divergence of American kilt-wearing from more traditional Scottish kilt-wearing. There are things he advocates that apparently just aren't done across the pond. It's a reasonable and inexpensive resource for the complete novice who lacks the availability of kilt-wearing mentors, but other resources (like this forum) should be sought as well.

[Jock Scot]

It is a very long time since I have read the book, so my memory of the detail is scant and I know that some of us have our reservations and criticisms of the book, but actually it is a very handy guide for the novice kilt wearer.

[Chas]

Unfortunately the tag system is such that it will only accept 25 characters and that includes spaces.

Whereas - So You're Going to Wear the Kilt - is a total of 32.

So there we have it.

I do have a copy, and you are quite right, Nile, it is a good read.

Regards

Chas

[creagdhubh]

While there may not be a review per se of So You're Going to Wear the Kilt, it has been much discussed. "Scotty" Thompson has been very influential in American kilt-wearing, but also largely responsible for the divergence of American kilt-wearing from more traditional Scottish kilt-wearing. There are things he advocates that apparently just aren't done across the pond. It's a reasonable and inexpensive resource for the complete novice who lacks the availability of kilt-wearing mentors, but other resources (like this forum) should be sought as well.

***

Well put, Kenneth.

[Sir William]

While there may not be a review per se of So You're Going to Wear the Kilt, it has been much discussed. "Scotty" Thompson has been very influential in American kilt-wearing, but also largely responsible for the divergence of American kilt-wearing from more traditional Scottish kilt-wearing. There are things he advocates that apparently just aren't done across the pond. It's a reasonable and inexpensive resource for the complete novice who lacks the availability of kilt-wearing mentors, but other resources (like this forum) should be sought as well.

When I wore my first kilt in 1982 this was about all that was available on kilt-wearing except what you could "learn" at the local Games, Scottish Country Dancing, etc. There was no internet, let alone a kilt-wearer's forum like XMTS. If nothing else, I learned about the proper kilt length and what the difference was between day-wear and evening-wear, which have served me well in the years since. When I reread it last year there were a few minor things I disagreed with, but on the whole I still recommend it as a useful reference for beginning kilt-wearers - in addition to XMTS!

[Nile]

Thank you all for the feed back. I am a novice with no real tradition in kilt wearing so the book seemed authoritative to me. However, I agree with Kenneth, I'm getting a lot of good information from this forum and I especially value the pictures of how people are wearing kilts. For example, the "Too Traditional" thread, elsewhere on this forum is an education unto it self. A lot of good stuff in that, especially from the Scotts.

[Lime]

I get the feeling that Scotty Thompson would have been an extremely active member of this forum!

[macwilkin]

While Thompson's book is generally a good one, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Matt Newsome's web site:

http://wwww.albanach.org

And in particular, Matt's own book, Patented Advice for First Time Kilt Wearers:

http://www.albanach.org/books.html

When I meet folks who are new to Highland dress in our local St. Andrew's Society, I generally refer them to Matt's site, the Scottish Tartans Museum and the Scottish Tartans Authority.

T.

[creagdhubh]

While Thompson's book is generally a good one, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Matt Newsome's web site:

http://wwww.albanach.org

And in particular, Matt's own book, Patented Advice for First Time Kilt Wearers:

http://www.albanach.org/books.html

When I meet folks who are new to Highland dress in our local St. Andrew's Society, I generally refer them to Matt's site, the Scottish Tartans Museum and the Scottish Tartans Authority.

T.

A fantastic resource indeed! A big *** here!

Cheers Todd,

[Nile]

Thank you for the recomendation. I visited the museum's site and ordered Matt's book "Patented Advice for First Time Kilt Wearers" from the book store.