Wrapping the Braveheart kilt

[OC Richard]

It seems to me that the costume designer for Braveheart saw various images of Highland dress showing

-the 'great kilt'/'belted plaid'/'philamore'

-the modern kilt/small kilt/ 'philabeg' worn with a separate 'long plaid' wrapped around the body

and, not understanding that he/she was looking at two quite different forms of dress, and assuming that all the images were showing the same thing, tried to make sense of it all and created a hybrid thing which, in fact, doesn't make any structural sense.

Too bad that now people are looking at the costumes in that movie as a guide to doing early Highland Dress.

At an early period there would be two forms of Highland Dress worn by people with the money to afford nice clothing

1) tartan jacket and trews, with a long plaid (simple rectangle of tartan) loosely draped around the body. These four items were often in different tartans.

2) tartan jacket and great kilt/belted plaid/philamore and patterned hose. These four items were often in different tartans, the hose usually being red & white.

The jackets could also be plain. Waistcoats were sometimes worn.

The great kilt/belted plaid costume in 1710. The slashed doublet would have been quite old-fashioned at that time.

We don't have good portraits of periods much earlier than this, so these early 18th century portraits will have to serve.



The trews & long plaid costume





One can see that the plaid wrapped around the body isn't worn with the kilt in the early period, the great kilt/belted plaid/philamore being quite sufficient on its own.

Now here we are a century later, in the early 19th century, with the small kilt worn with long plaid wrapped around the body. This costume is obviously anachronistic to MacBeth, Braveheart, Brigadoon, etc but nevertheless it's this sort of 19th century costume that Hollywood costumers seem to always have in mind

[crows4hire]

Thanks for your responses. I agree that is it not a traditional approach... it just happens to be what is needed for the moment and if it will require any cutting on my plaid, then it isn't going to happen!
That said, I parsed through the movie last night and found a scene where Mel is being dressed by his wife. He is already belted and all of the extra material is somehow gathered on his right hip. It appears she is tying it at his waist to secure it, then she passes it across his chest in a thin band and over his left shoulder.

That said, that is the look I am trying to achieve. The material in a band across the chest, rather than covering it. I have seen this numerous times online and at games so there must be a way to achieve it, but I'll be darned if I can figure it out.

[Calgacus]

Of course the historical accuracy of all this is a bit of a moot point because Macbeth predates the wearing of kilts at all. The historical King Macbeth reigned in the 11th century when, if anything, highland dress resembled Irish dress, namely leine & brat. The play was written around 1600, just at the point when the earliest images of the belted plaid were produced.

Highland dress pre-belted plaid (1577)

scotsmen2.jpg

Earliest illustration of a belted plaid c.1605

Earliest c1605 by Richard the Rogue, on Flickr

Early illustration, 1641 woodcut

1641 woodcut by Richard the Rogue, on Flickr

[duke_19_62]

Sascha_Bohl_2.jpgThe Celtic Croft sells what they call the Ancient Kilt. From their website: "The Ancient Kilt is basically a Phillabeg with an extra 2-3 yards of tartan attached. The extra tartan is there to be worn as a sash or a fly plaid, once the kilt is pleated. It differs from the Great Kilt because it is made from a longer piece of single width fabric (25 – 30 inches wide)."

[crows4hire]

Duke,
Are you saying that this is more than just 5 yards of 60 inch plaid? In other words their is a thin strip at one end that extends a few more yards?

[Calgacus]

Duke,
Are you saying that this is more than just 5 yards of 60 inch plaid? In other words their is a thin strip at one end that extends a few more yards?

The Celtic Croft item that Duke shows is not 60 inch cloth, it is single width (~28-30").

There is a method of wearing the upper portion of the plaid that I think will give you the look you are after.

1. Put the plaid on as described in my post above, up to the point where you have just stood up.

2. Reach behind you (or get an assistant to help) and grab roughly the centre of the edge of the hanging upper part of the plaid. Take this point and lift it up and over your left shoulder. Pin it there, or get your assistant to keep hold of it.

3. Reach down and pick up the corner of the upper plaid which should be visible near your left knee. If it's not visible, you may have the aprons reversed. Take this corner and twirl it a few times to roll the fabric up a bit. Now pass the corner round your right hip and tuck it in beneath your belt at the back.

4. Reach down and pick up the corner of the upper plaid which should be visible near your right knee. Take this corner and twirl it a few times to roll the fabric up a bit. Now pass the corner round your left hip and tuck it in beneath your belt at the back.

5. Take a portion of the cloth that went round your right hip and bring it up towards your left shoulder. Use a brooch or clasp to attach this portion to the bit you brought over your left shoulder earlier.

You should now have something like this-

Plaid multi small.jpg

This is about 6 yards of double width. I was experimenting. For putting on, something like four yards would have been better. If I knew I had to sleep outside in it in all weathers in Scotland, I'd happily keep the 6 yards!

[crows4hire]

2014-09-15 11.01.09.jpg2014-09-15 11.04.33.jpg2014-09-15 11.05.55.jpg
I think I've got something workable... I had the aprons reversed so I hung it on my right shoulder.

[MacLowlife]

Aye, Calgacus,

If we are talking about conveniently putting it on, shorter works fine, but it is the sleeping part that adds length.

Crows4Hire, I do not mean to insult you, but please note all of the terminology:
The Great Kilt is the wrapped length
The Philabeg is the "little kilt"
A Plaid ("PLAYED") is a separate blanket/shawl/scarf and, depending on the wearer's inclination, can go anywhere from a big bandanna to several feet, wrapped or draped accordingly

[crows4hire]

No offense taken and duly noted. Thank you.

[Benning Boy]

TRIGGER WARNING: Benning Boy presents ideas that may not be acceptable to those who think themselves traditionalists. If you are offended by ideas at variance with your beliefs, you may want to drop out.


I'm kinda going off on a tangent here, this sorta fits the topic, but is sorta off topic, too, but here goes.

Usually when searching for answers, the simplest answer turns out to be the correct one. The way of wrapping a blanket (plaid) shown at the Wilde Weavery site it the simplest answer to the question: How to wrap a great kilt?


The nine-yard great kilt seems to be a fairly recent invention. The required length, based on what I've learned through my readings, has only been firmly established since the arrival of the Internet. And, on the Internet much of the information about the 9-yard great kilt seems to be produced by people interested more in playing dress-up. I consider these claims specious.

Just as today, the length of tartan used to make the kilt probably was more in proportion to the size of the wearer, just enough to do the job, and no more. My guess is economy and efficiency were primary concerns. At no time has a 9-yard great kilt been either economical of efficient.

Today, nine yards of tartan would make a kilt for a very large fat man. It's almost a certainty that Highlanders of McBeths day were small fit men. Why on earth would they need nine yards of tartan for their great kilts. Even allowing for the use of the thing as a blanket at night, and a double layer of blanket at that, these men could probably have gotten away with four to 4.5 yards total length.

I suspect that a Highlander of McBeth's day wore whatever length he could afford, if indeed they wore anything kilt-ish at all, and most Highlanders of that day being poor, probably only wore a short "great Kilt" more in the fashion shown at the Wilde site.

Just a speculation, but if you spend enough on proper tartan today to construct a 9-yard great kilt, you will have spent quite a lot of money. No let's consider how prices have changed over the centuries. Going back just a little way, in 1873 you could buy a new Colt Single Action Army revolver with a $20 gold piece, containing almost exactly one ounce of gold. Over the years the price of the revolver really hasn't changed. It's always been one ounce of gold. Even today were you to buy a new Colt SAA, the price would be roughly the equivalent of one ounce of gold. Or put another wya, the equivalent of a common man's monthly wages. And today there are a whold lot of common folks in the USA who are doing well to earn a monthly wage matched by the price of one ounce of gold.

So just for argument's sake, let me say that the price of tartan has pretty much paralleled that of a Colt revolver -- and the price of other things, too -- If It's expensive to make a 9-yard great kilt in today's money, it was probably equivalently expensive in "old timey" money, or barter. Which says to me the Great Kilt, was probably only about half-great.

Just my imagination running loose here, but I can see how a great kilt might start out being fairly short, but as the wearer found the need, or acquired more tartan -- either purchased or woven at home -- he might add length to it. The early short wrap would almost certainly be wrapped as shown at the Wilde site, as it grew long the wrapping of it might become more complicated -- maybe.

Being that the great kilt is properly made of two pieces of single width cloth stitched together at the edges, I can even imagine a great kilt made of two different setts. Pieced together a great kilt might have more setts. I can think of no source who states this sort of thing did not happen, but neither are there sources that say it did happen. Conceivably, it could have happened.

It is declared at various online sites that the great kilt requires nine yard of tartan to make, no more, no less. And, it is said at these sites that is from the great kilt from which our expression "the whole nine yards" comes. Consider: linguistic authorities have said the expression comes from the world of tailoring, where nine yards of cloth are what is needed to make an average man's three-piece suit. A customer might tell a tailor he wanted the whole nine yards in his bespoke suite, meaning trousers, jacket and vest. Yet other authorities say that a nine yard long machine gun belt was all that cold be fitted into a World War One aircraft. A returning pilot, having run out of ammunition, would then say he gave them the whole nine yards.

There isn't a one good answer for the origin of the nine yard expression. It cannot conclusively be said to have originated in the Scottish Highlands, where English wasn't the first language anyway. I think a much shorter length of fabric put on as in the Wild site makes he most sense.

Consider what Calgacus says about Scottish mens clothes of McBeth's time probably being more like the Irish liene and brat. Looking at pictures of the day, it looks to me like the brat could have been worn in the style shown at the Wilde site. Just for pretend, let's say tartan is a form of camouflage, and that Scots in Brinam Wood were dressed in liene and brat. Now it is time to sneak up on Dunsinane. Would it have been helpful if they had pulled their brats about them much as shown at the Wilde site to further enhance the natural camouflage they carried before them?