Heavy Athletics, tradition and the kilt - questions

[Alan H]

As a note to all of this, Pleater...aka Anne, is quite upfront about having worn kilts all of her life, from a childhood in the UK through to the present. Yet I don't see Pleater as being in the center of any great ongoing controversy, and she's been a wonderful presence on X Marks for many years, especially in the DIY forums. Barb Tewksbury also wears kilts, now and then, even when she's not playing pipes in her band.

Ann Stewart, an absolute icon in the kiltmaking world, once wrote an article in "Threads" magazine: -- " Making a kilt: Sew a man's traditional kilt or a woman's kilt skirt" by Ann Stewart in Threads magazine, volume 33, pages 55-60, February/March 1991. Back issues may be available from Threads, 63 S. Main St., P.O. Box 5506 Newtown, CT 06470-5506.

in which she quite plainly writes that she has a "mans kilt" which she wears on occasion. She also has some kilt skirts, but ANNE STEWART owns a KILT and wears it. ..... or did, at least back in 1991. So the esteemed Anne Stewart does both of these things:

A.) recognizes that the kilt is primarily, or possibly historically, a male garment
B.) occasionally wears one, anyway

What she doesn't do is say that having garments associated with a gender is a bad thing and indicates the inherent corruption of society, or something. She doesn't try to deny the historical background of the garment. So therefore, when she chooses to wear one, she does it from an educated standpoint. There is no battle, with Anne Stewart. She recognizes the history and the gender associations, usually lets them be, and now and then, she straps on her kilt.

AND...she made it, herself. Personally, I quite like Anne Stewarts approach.

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While I put in some text about "leaving the kilt for the men" in the X-Kilt manual, I also recognize that to some degree when it's a contemporary kilt, a lot of the whole issue is semantics. After all, my friend Kathy, the guitarist in my band, wears Utilikilts. GGGP has been known to strap on a Utilikilt. Also, of course anybody can download that X-Kilt manual and make whatever they feel like, including a pink kilt with little white poodles on it, and with white lace fringe if they want..... and learn from the process, which is in large part the whole point of the manual...... a fact which sometimes gets lost amidst the obsessing during construction..

[MacFhearchair]

Anne the Pleater will always have my respect for being the person who did the most to convince me I could wear a kilt if I wanted.

I don't understand what you're getting at, I guess, Alan. It sounds like you're saying that sexism is an uncomfortable topic and no one really cares to hear about how it pertains to the wearing of the kilt or perceptions of people who do so. If that's what you're saying, rest assured I already know. I talk a lot about the various forms of sexism because I think it's important to do, not because I particularly like the subject. It stresses me out.

If you look back on the threads in this forum, opinions have been strong and very divided in the past, and for sensitive individuals like myself, it has been a matter of concern. (Those strong opinions are also often seen scrawled across the faces of people I encounter in real life, too, btw.)

In more recent forum threads I have only just discovered, things seem to have warmed up some, or at least the voices in favor of sexual dimorphism in fashion have quieted down a bit. Maybe things are changing for the better and will do so just fine without me focusing my intellectual efforts on it, and I should drop the subject before I cause excessive irritation.

[RogerWS76]

I've made two kilts for my wife, who wears them from time to time whne she can come to the games!

[Alan H]

I've made two kilts for my wife, who wears them from time to time whne she can come to the games!

So you see, there we are, once again... What IS a kilt? Exactly? ...the never-ending question which keeps years of X Markers occupied....

A.) If it buckles on the right side, it's a kilt. If it buckles on the left side, it's a skirt. Ummm.....seriously, to me, I cannot conceive of a more unimportant detail. You know the skirt I'm making for Mrs Farlander? It's going to buckle on the right side.

B.) If it's made out of 7-9 yards of material, it's a kilt. If it's made out of 4 yards of material, it's a skirt. Yes, well of course except for those 5-yard casual kilts, right? Hmmmm.... seems like a slippery slope to me. How about a young lad who is wearing a kilt which is made out of 4 yards of tartan? How about those nifty historical kilts that exist in the Scottish Tartans Museum which are about 4 yards of wool cloth and not pleated to any repeating element in the sett, at all?

C.) If it's made out of heavyweight fabric, it's a kilt. If it's made out of lightweight fabric, it's a skirt. That means that you and I, throwing at the Games, have been wearing skirts. Not only that, but Rusty Price wore a Sportkilt to the Braemar Games last year and won in front of the Queen........wearing a skirt.

D.) If the bottom of the kilt is somewhere between the top of the users knee, and the bottom 1/3rd of the kneecap, it's a kilt. If it ends anywhere else...mid-thigh, ankles, whatever...it's a skirt. So that means that women who wear tartan wool garments which strap on the left, are made out of 4 yards of 10 ounce tartan material, which happen to end at the kneecap are wearing kilts, but if they wear the exact same garment that hits the wearer at "midi-length" it's then a skirt?

I dunno about all of this.

I think it's possible to say that if the garment 1.) is of some length aside from knee-length 2.) is made out of lighter weight material than 11-12 ounces/yard 3.) straps on the left 4.) and is constructed from <4 yards of material then it's a skirt.

I suppose. Personally, instead of worrying this to death, I'd rather focus on maximising my LWFD throws, but I know some guys don't have that little distraction.

When it comes to "contemporary kilts" I honestly think that the whole thing is a pointless exercise in vocabulary.

When pressed, I suspect that the people who have given MacFhearchair disapproving looks when she wears her really nice wool Farquharson tartan kilt, couldn't give a definition of a kilt to save their life. They "just know somethings wrong, when they see it". Yeah, well. Whatever. I figure, that's their problem. Again...Ann Stewart...freaking ANNE STEWART acknowledges that a tartan wool kilt is primarily a garment that is associated with men. At the same time, she owns one and wears it, and neither she nor anybody else makes a battle out of it.

Is this really battle-worthy stuff?


I figure, MacFearchair, if you want to wear your kilt, wear it. It's YOUR kilt, you bought it with YOUR money, and it's going around YOUR butt. I won't bitch at you about it, and nobody else that I know is going to bitch at you about it, either. If someone else does, that's their problem. I wouldn't wear that lovely woolen creation out on the athletic field, because I'd hate to see it get ruined, but if you want to stitch up a Farquarhson kilt out of polyester-viscose or a wool/polyester mix so that it's machine-washable, then go for it. Knock 'yerself out.

I bet 98% of the people who see you on the field figure pretty much the same thing.

[Alan H]

Now, just to point out my MASSIVE hypocrisy....

Women wearing a traditionally constructed wool kilt bother me not at all.

---> but guys wearing what is plainly and obviously a tartan skirt look terribly wrong to me. I remember seeing a couple of guys at Livermore in 2008 walking around with skirts on, su-u-uper-tight t-shirts, and great big gossamer fairy wings. Yeah. OK. Not so keen on that.

[Alan H]

I write too much. Must get a life!

[MacFhearchair]

Now, just to point out my MASSIVE hypocrisy....

Women wearing a traditionally constructed wool kilt bother me not at all.

---> but guys wearing what is plainly and obviously a tartan skirt look terribly wrong to me. I remember seeing a couple of guys at Livermore in 2008 walking around with skirts on, su-u-uper-tight t-shirts, and great big gossamer fairy wings. Yeah. OK. Not so keen on that.

LOL - they're just having fun. Some people are exhibitionists and aren't happy unless they're getting stared at. Although I wonder if they felt a little bit foolish dressing like they're clubbing in The Castro for a cultural festival. *shrug* They probably thought they were cutting-edge, but it's like wearing a formal gown to a football game. You just end up looking like you're some sucker who lost a bet.

[MacFhearchair]

I've made two kilts for my wife, who wears them from time to time whne she can come to the games!

Lucky lady! My husband doesn't sew, but rumor has it Alan might make me a kilt someday, so not all is lost.