Why wear a kilt?

**gwynng** · 28th May 13, 11:52 AM

Why wear a kilt? An oft asked question. I wear a kilt because I like them. It is one of those miracle garments that can go from knock around to white-tie formal by merely changing the stuff that surrounds it: shirt, jacket and accessories. It is distinctive and makes you memorable. You see a man in a kilt and you remember him.

My partner and I had a trade show in New York last week. When you do a trade show, one of the major goals is to get people to stop for 10 seconds so you can engage them about our business. Wearing kilts on our busiest day insured that we had a steady flow of curious onlookers and had lots of opportunity to engage people to talk about our business. Naturally "the question" arose ("why", not "what's underneath" that is the OTHER question), to which we would answer, "it's Monday, it's kilt day." Which made people wonder if they were missing out on some parade or national event. Well it worked. We had the busiest day ever at our booth, just because we wore kilts. As they say in "Gypsy", "ya gotta have a gimmick."

Personally I wear a kilt just about anywhere I wear pants: the theater, out for a nice dinner, bars, clubs, anywhere I want to wear something a little nicer and more distinctive. Never once have I had a derogatory remark, lots of questions, but never anything negative. Men love them, women love them, matters not. I walk with a longer stride and stand with better posture when I wear a kilt. I feel like myself, but more of it. Naturally lots of questions, all of which you have fielded if you have worn a kilt out for more than an hour. Of course the best, classiest, most respectful and coolest question is "what's your clan tartan?" Then you know you are talking to someone who has a mind that extends beyond what is underneath.

**tadyergey** · 28th May 13, 11:57 AM

Because I can... I love wearing them but only wish I could get away wearing my kilts for work. Walking the halls for the Pentagon and other Gov't buildings just doesn't fly.

When I wear them casually, I hardly get any comments anymore, and if I do, they are positive and for he most part informed. Stay kilted my friend!

**KiltFitz** · 28th May 13, 12:17 PM

It shouldn't be difficult to find an answer to this since I am (half) Scots and live in Glasgow. Apart from a wedding as a toddler, I didn't wear a kilt until I was in my late teens. That wasn't unusual growing up in Glasgow as it wasn't so popular at the time, and the Tartan Army phenomenon hadn't quite taken hold yet.

A female friend recently paid me a lovely compliment (at a funeral actually) when she greeted me and told me that I looked like I was born wearing a kilt. As a big (fat) guy, jeans and tracksuits, chinos etc don't look half as good on me as formal clothes like suits and more so, a kilt. I can wear so many more things with my kilt like rugby tops, polo shirts etc, which trousers and other things just don't blend with for my physique.

Still I would say that once I started wearing kilts to rugby, football and ceilidhs, I generally began to associate having a kilt on with a sense of happiness and fun. I wear a kilt to just about any formal social event and often just turn up down the pub wearing it to cheer myself up. People have stopped asking me what the occasion is, even if I am in full dress as it is seen as a part of my character. In fact, if I could get away with wearing a kilt to work, I would probably take to wearing the kilt full-time. Alas, it is not considered proper office attire in most places. One day.....

**Dale Seago** · 28th May 13, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by Braw Cathairneach

Maybe our Bermuda brethren as well as other diasporan will edify readers of this forum that Scottish tradition and culture are not exclusively caucasian.

Don't want to hijack the thread, but here's an article that may afford some edification:

http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...e/article1.htm

**Starhunter451** · 28th May 13, 05:22 PM

That might be really good in the historical section.

**Starhunter451** · 28th May 13, 05:37 PM

I started when I started going to faire. But after becoming part of a locsl living history orgsnization, and one of the elders wesr one all the time, I realized that I can too. Now working on resizing the cheater kilt. Now I am obsessed with getting it done.

**OC Richard** · 28th May 13, 07:31 PM

Well I love all these photos of black guys in kilts!

Here is a local guy Tony, who is a good piper, Highland Dancer, and kilt maker!

Anyhow I got into the pipes as a musical instrument first, and Highland Dress sort of came along as an adjunct. But soon I developed a deep love for Highland Dress for its own sake, unlike most pipers who view wearing Highland Dress as something of a chore.

The basic answer, for me, is that I wear the kilt because it's expected, required, of a performing piper.

**English Bloke** · 29th May 13, 02:02 AM

Like John of Carrick, I'm a convert from shorts which I used to wear all the time. Before discovering the Kilt, I was as English as English can be...

The discovery of the Kilt as an option was spurred by a period when I worked in Scotland and was responding to incessant anti-English banter from colleagues. I particularly enjoyed the response of "Yae canne weear a Kult yae sassenach bassa, yoo'rr nae e'en Scaw'ish"... I'm proof you can, at least.

The attachment came from my Anglo-Scot heritage, being part Scottish, part English by blood (not by birth).

The desire to continue wearing one came from the continual nae-sayers telling me I either couldn't, or shouldn't.

The admiring looks, compliments and spontaneous conversations with complete strangers that I am forced to endure on a near daily basis also help as well.

So Kilt on and wear it with great respect, but keep a tab on what you're spending. You don't really need fifteen pairs of socks or a dozen sporrans.

**Kiltedjohn** · 29th May 13, 02:50 AM

I first felt the desire to wear a kilt in my teenage years, and wore it as "Sunday best" clothing. I left Scotland after that, and felt that kilt-wearing would be altogether too conspicuous south of the border. The kilt-wearing urge has never left me, however, and I recently bought a new one to wear during a holiday in Edinburgh. Since returning to England, it has remained in my wardrobe but, prompted by various postings on X-Marks, I'm tempted to put it on, and to venture forth kilted in Central England. I think the main attractions are (1) the comfort factor and (2) it's so much brighter and more colourful than trousers. At the moment, I'm about to buy a couple of pairs of trousers, and am faced with the awful dilemma - grey or dark blue? - what a choice! The kilt is a much better alternative.