The kilt cannot be universally accepted

[Grae]

I do not know why a Muslim person would think a man in a kilt is cross dressing when Muslims all over SE Asia wear sarongs and similar mens garments. The kilt is recognized as traditional western mens wear throughout the world and is worn by people of all faiths and colours all over the world, which IMHO is a good thing for all.

[Father Bill]

We're treading a thin line here. It has nothing to do with a man's faith; it's a matter of his education and experience, and perhaps to a degree, his culture, but not his religion.

[The Q]

I do not know why a Muslim person would think a man in a kilt is cross dressing when Muslims all over SE Asia wear sarongs and similar mens garments. The kilt is recognized as traditional western mens wear throughout the world and is worn by people of all faiths and colours all over the world, which IMHO is a good thing for all.

As Father Bill says it's more culture than religion, for instance you are saying that the Muslims of SE Asia wouldn't have a problem and are probably correct. But we on this side of the world see Muslims from the African / Arab World and they, in the home of the Muslim world, wear in general, the long White thobe for men and Black for women.
They see western Men and would on occasion wear western clothing. The kilt for the majority is way outside their experience and just would not be recognised.
Similarly if those from the far east visited the middle East in their national costume it would not be approved of.
Remember in many arab countries a man and woman cannot touch each other in public, but you often see men holding hands and it has nothing to do with being gay. cultural meanings of what we or they wear, do or say can be badly misinterpreted.

And as for kilts being recognised as men's wear everywhere you are incorrect, even in the UK outside of the military it is often seen by the redneck gorrillas as a sign you are not entirely male.

When the Muslims go to Saudi for the Hadj all are required to wear white towelling, so all are seen as equal.

[Jimmy]

I live in a area where there is poverty in a council estate in Dundee and have never had a problem with the kilt as well as formal kilts I have got casual kilts
and explain to people who ask me why I have so many kilts that they are casual kilts available on Ebay for £24 so you don’t need to be rich or a snob
to wear the kilt !

Again with what I said initially, its so difficult for the kilt to be universally accepted, we have seen in many of the previous posts, there are many reasons why men would not wear the kilt, from the basic premise that some men just do not like the kilt , its their own personal opinion , to wearing the kilt in an impoverished area to wearing the kilt in a foreign country that looks badly on this mode of dress. I feel that we should be pleased that there are so many countries that the kilt is welcomed in and can wear it openly and with pride.
I'm glad that we can purchase kilts cheaply, previously with the price of a kilt being affordable to only those with a comfortable income, now everyone who has wanted for long enough to try wearing a kilt can do so albeit it may only be for a Burns night, national football match or casual at a party.
Over the years of kilt wearing, I believe I have influenced others to wear the kilt and I would imagine most regular kilt wearers would say something similar

[Pleater]

RE:Pleater' comment post34

I did not know about border morris, but now you mention it I recall seeing these wild morris dancers with pheasant feathers in top hat etc at Hastings and there were black kilts worn which I assumed meant that they were Morris dancers from Cornwall.

The black kilt is usually selected as the 'uniform' is black - perhaps covered in colourful 'tatters' but Border morris sides wear black as Cotswold morris sides wear white.

They also used to black their faces, which for some is not pc as they seem to assume that it is a reference to black face minstrels when it is more to do with the acquisition of pheasant feathers.

Anne the Pleater

[estimaa]

Again with what I said initially, its so difficult for the kilt to be universally accepted, .....its their own personal opinion , to wearing the kilt in an impoverished area to wearing the kilt in a foreign country that looks badly on this mode of dress.

I can't help feeling there's a lot of nonsense here.
I am in Russia now, and have worn it since I arrived. (now more than once).
Impoverished it certainly is, in the border region I cross from the Baltic States to Leningradski region, but it's the most comfortable clothing known, so what do I care?

People are usually very polite or even enthusiastic and it's a sort of passport to make people speak English to me (including in the bus ferrying us from the terminal to the plane).

I was met at the airport in St Petersburg check in counter by the most incredible smile from the pretty Russian girl who checked me in.
she said WOW, "that is beautiful!
I always dreamed of buying or wearing a kilt like that!"

I just turned around and said "well you work for an airline, just tell them to put you on a flight to Edinburgh and go do some shopping".

Russians are a bit taken aback by a fairly bright and clearly visible kilt, but they don't know it cost me so little for an amazingly rugged piece of clothing which has already lasted a year in all kinds of conditions, and I am invariably thinking only of my comfort first while they are ignoring their own discomfort or poor dressing, and usually in denial.

I can say now with some personal experience, there's 2-3 exceptions where a kilt is NOT acceptable:-
1/ under a car when you are being showered in oil and filth.
(I wear some dirty old hacked up trousers which got damaged skiing.

2/ Skiing, pretty obviously.

3/ wearing a kilt at over 30-33C is not a good plan. It's way too hot for that.

That's the only real exceptions I use.

Anything between 5-25C is ideal depending on the weight of it, and it's the only thing which puts you head and shoulders above anyone else when it's literally tipping down with rain.

(You don't get wet and soggy in a kilt, but you sure do in jeans!).
In fact I don't bother with umbrellas any more.

Lastly and most importantly I discovered keeping a steady temperature (NOT TOO HOT, not too cold) improved health out of all recognition.

In normal clothes get in and out of public transport, you are assaulted by changes in temperature constantly, from sweating like fury to freezing cold and windy in a street.

In a kilt in the Moscow metro when autumn , winter comes, you just shrug it all off as if nothing had happened, while people are struggling with excessive warmth at +25C in thick winter clothes, then fighting with the sweat making them cold as soon as they hit a street at -10C.

Anything from -25 to +5C is fine by me, but that is when you tend to get the real looks.
It's not then the "cross dressing" kind, but "HOW ON EARTH" does he do it, and in some cases "he's crazy" or "tougher than iron".

Funnily enough I didn't even so much as catch a cold last winter, while everyone around me went down with flu!

[RCAnderson]

. . . I have a strong interest in the Scottish culture, to include a love of bagpipes (I swear I'm not just making that up) . . .

Tony,

Have you become active with the local Scottish and Celtic organizations on Oahu yet? We have several, and there is something happening almost every month somewhere on the island.

[Bob C]

Why are you from the New world so afraid of dress conventions?

We are not afraid of your antiquated conventions. We simply find them silly.

[Father Bill]

We are not afraid of your antiquated conventions. We simply find them silly.

But then here I am in the New World and I find it more than silly to ignore convention and look as if we don't know what we're doing or understand what we're wearing. To some of us, "antiquated" is better termed "carefully developed" or "progressively evolved" or even "knowledgeable and educated".

[ThistleDown]

We are not afraid of your antiquated conventions. We simply find them silly.

Out of context, Bob C. The rest of the paragraph provided a few examples of how folk in the New World have enthusiastically adopted certain conventions as if they created them themselves, but which are definitely based on the traditions and conventions of the Old World.