How did the kilt develop?

[neloon]

Henry,
We know from Bishop Leslie that the Highlanders of the mid 1500s wore short trews to facilitate wading through wet vegetation/rivers etc. and a brat plus feileadh (blanket) round the shoulders and this ties in with the well known picture by de Heere shown here



(I see no reason to believe the suggestion that this picture has been altered.)

I feel it is more likely that, around 1580, someone first stuffed the feileadh through a waistbelt to make carrying it easier than that the brat became longer. I doubt if any changes in length of leine etc. would have had much influence on what was going on in Highland Scotland by that point in history. Of course, one should also recogniset that there was probably great variation in Highland dress in relation to location, social class, age etc. with a good deal of external influence on the periphery of the Highlands.
Alan