Two Telling comments? The Answer Perhaps?

[Laird_M]

OK, very late to this thread, and skipped bits as 22 pages is a LOT of text. For me, having travelled a fair bit, I personally think part of the problem is the ennui so often seen in the young (hey! I'm only 45!) who consider it 'ucnool' to dress in a kilt - ripped jeans and an offensive t-shirt are far more 'with it', and many see history as 'just unimportant stuff about the past', so can't be bothered about. "Who cares if its 'traditional' or not? I wouldn't be seen dead in it!".
For me, wearing a kilt is a personal choice, and yes I do feel it connects me with the past, which I persoanlly feel is important.
I get the bit about 'tourists' - The town I went to school in each summer was invaded by hoards of tourists with 15 cameras around their neck, bermuda shorts and loud shirt driving us crazy with "Gee! This place is just so quaint".

Yes, wearing a kilt (badly) in Scotland could mark you as an uninformed tourist, but I have to say that on holiday 2 years ago in the Dumfries area where I often went kilted, I found it a positive experience. Yes, I was asked the usual questions, and although I didn't go out of my way to draw attention to myself, didn't mind the attention I did receive. Everyone was polite, people asked which Clan the tartan represented, and it was a great conversation starter.

I know this probably doesn't answer your question JS, but its just my take on the matter to further muddy the waters...

[Livonian]

I felt inclined to chime in given the recent post from Laird M.

From what I am told, nationally-identifiable dress was often worn as "social" or "after-hours" wear in Europe before the advent of cosmopolitan dress and the drive to cosmopolitanism (the World Wars seem to have killed national and ethnic pride). It would seem the reason we don't see much of this is that people weren't photographed as often then as they are today, and photographs were usually taken at places where folks would be wearing "city clothes" (here meaning the largely English lounge suit we all know, but not all of us love). I once read that before the takeover of youth fashion and cosmopolitanism, one could see Bavarians and Austrians wearing bundhosen and/or lederhosen with a sportcoat and tie for social and personal outings. At most leisure outings, the suede knickers would be seen with well, whatever else one would deem appropriate for the outing. Mind you, this is gathered from bits of hearsay and reminiscing, so the rose-colored glasses of my sources may have distorted some of the facts.

I would be inclined, regardless of what the latest fashions of London and Paris are, to believe that it is traditional and proper to wear the attire corresponding to one's heritage. In today's very counter-traditional social climate, that turns 99% of the populace away from any form of ethnically or nationally identifiable attire. To varying degrees, the members of this forum are part of the 1% who see the beauty and timeless relevance of tradition. Being of Scottish and German decent, I'd hope to one day have a closet of Scottish Highland Attire and German Tracht (maybe with a lounge suit or two so my boss doesn't faint upon seeing a barbarian in the office).

As to why few in Scotland wear the kilt and Highland Attire: My guess would be because it's a traditional practice in the midst of a counter-traditional world.

[frank_a]

I have not had the time to read through this whole thread, as I'm not retired, but I did catch it when it started, and read these last few posts.

We hope to get to Scotland a few years down the road. It won't be easy, as money is tight enough as it is, but we both want to go badly before we retire. Once we retire, all bets are off.

So I've been thinking about this the last few days, and come to the conclusion I can bring a kilt to Scotland, but maybe only wear it when we visit Inveraray Castle. I have Campbell heritage and my kilts are Ancient Campbell, just like the tartan the Duke of Argyll regularly wears around the estate. So I guess it would be okay there, but maybe not in London or the Orkneys. Maybe the Duke would even notice and think "Ah, a clansman!"

I'm glad I belong to the St. Andrews Society of the City of Albany (NY) and get to wear a kilt to functions with other grown fellas wearing kilts. It's not Scotland, but the way things are going, it may be the closest I ever get!

Frank

[Kalok Sundancer]

I believe we are over-thinking the issue. I do not dress for what I imagine others are thinking. Although aware of what may be viewed as novelty, eccentricity, or rebellion I do wear what I like. Life is too short to dress for (possibly erroneous) imagined views of others. I love my kilts. I love how they feel when I stand and walk in them. I do not like wearing them when I will be sitting for a long while. I would not wear pants climbing and hiking. Last summer I was privileged to visit Glasgow for two weeks. I wore my kilt all the time. Next time I go I will make one change - I will bring my arch supports. My feet were killing me after all that walking.

This.... I don't dress for others. I dress for me.

[WillowEstate]

<snip>
What I do know, is that on occasion now when getting dressed, I actually find myself considering if I should wear the kilt for no reason at all and worse still, for such and such an event. Something that in the past would never have occured and I find that unsettling.
<snip>

I'll say one thing for you, Jock, you are the master at provoking thoughts! I've pondered this paragraph since you posted it, trying to formulate my own motives. As a relative newcomer (5 years) to this strange and wonderful land and considering the climate, the opportunities for formal occasions are comparatively rare, so that my kilt wearing is of a more general nature.

I can really come up with only one reason why I would decide to wear a kilt on any given day - Because I feel like I want to. Is this too superficial, I wonder?

Now where did I leave my thinking cap?!

[tundramanq]

With modern communications, the people of the world are getting "homogenized" quite rapidly. It makes the individual ask more urgently: "Who am I, Am I unique and where did I come from?"
It is not just the Scots in Scotland that have this identity crisis by far.

[Taskr]

What a fascinating thread of discussion, with many gems among it.

It is unfortunate that any culture should alllow themselves to be driven by the practice of visitors to it - but this is not a new phenomena and will most certainly continue. The global community shifts and shapes through mass and social media, imagery and perception. At the crux of Jock's question then is why does Harry think as he does; to which we have all been applying ou r own perceptions. Mine would be that Harry feels the tourism of "Scot" has overtaken and even made some mockery of cultural dress and he wishes to be no part of it. This is not unusual. My mother spent many years revitalizing the "Inverness Set" for square dancing back home (Cape Breton), since what was a quite civil and social event (the dance at the community's halls) had become an uncontrolled mob to the fiddle. "The tourist" was a large part of the square dance demise, and the locals stopped going to their own community halls because of it. Over time, some halls regained "their hall and their dance", and many tourists were quite happy to engage in the local way of doing things. Though sadly it is now diluting again as the generations change. Harry, then, might be in the unenviable position of being well placed, generationally, to retake the "touristy kilt" and make it his own. Perhaps Jock should share this wonderful thread of discussion with him (if he has not yet) so that he understands that even tourists know they are tourists, and the more originals that can be seen will make them all the better for respecting a culture*.

*In Nepal for work, my Nepalese host provided to me a toupee, the traditional wedge hat, and encouraged me I wear it for the evening social event. A very senior person walked up to me at one point and indignantly asked what I was doing with the toupee. I politely told him that it was provided by my good friend and host, and that if it was in any way improper to accept my apologies and I would remove it. He insisted I not, knowing than it had been presented and not simply bought off a shop or street vendor. I was not, I guess, being a tourist in context and in the context of this thread. Perhaps Harry could be a new wave of Scots to be such guides to the tourist kilty.

[tpa]

When I lived in Scotland and wore my kilt out and about, the tourist thing never accurred to me and I seldom got any more innocuous inquiries other than "what tartan is it?" Now that I live in England, I am a tourist when in Scotland, but the same scenario applies. So what. I'm comfortable in my kilt anywhere, what others think is up to them. Maybe it is the way you wear it rather than the kilt itself. That is why Steve is only given away by his accent. I'm not a pretty sight in jeans or shorts and certainly get more complaints from my wife on the occasions I wear them. People may well form an opinion of you whatever you are dressed in, it just does not occur to you if you think you are fitting in.

[bwat]

So I've been thinking about this the last few days, and come to the conclusion I can bring a kilt to Scotland, but maybe only wear it when we visit Inveraray Castle.

I think that would be a great shame as some of you Americans could teach some of us Scots a thing or two about looking smart with a kilt. Just in the last four days we've had the following:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...concert-86210/
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-fowlis-86212/
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...eremony-86179/

People like seeing someone in a kilt and if you're in Scotland looking smart people will think "What wedding is it today?" and if you're just casually dressed they'll be thinking "Oh look a man in a kilt, isn't that nice". Actually, it'll be just like being kilted in your home turf but more people will understand that it's just another piece of clothing.

[bwat]

With modern communications, the people of the world are getting "homogenized" quite rapidly. It makes the individual ask more urgently: "Who am I, Am I unique and where did I come from?"
It is not just the Scots in Scotland that have this identity crisis by far.

It might be the other way around regarding homogeny. From "Wedding Traditions in Finland and the United States" (https://www15.uta.fi/FAST/US7/PAPS/sh-bride.htm)

In some respects, the Finnish and American responses were quite different. While Americans tended to list all the things that made them different from everyone else (such as the variety of nationalities in the family, different religious beliefs between the couple, etc.), Finns often emphasized the fact that they were "just regular people." Of course, Finns are much more homogenous as a people than Americans, but this fact was still striking. Interestingly, Finns tended to make a cultural distinction by the municipality or city from which they came, whereas Americans generally did not go into such detail, often mentioning only the part of the country in general.