Lowland/Scotch-Irish/American Colonists vs. Highlanders.

[Peter Crowe]

Therein lie the nuts of two things: 1. The reasons why many Highlanders don't wear Highland dress south of the Highland Line, even today, and 2. one good reason why the kilt is not -- by many -- worn daily in Scotland: the Lowland population is 20 times that of the Highland and much of the Highland population is Lowland or elsewhere in origin.

Conversely Rex, many Scots in the Lowlands have Highland forebears as well as Lowland Scots, English, Irish, Welsh and others. The Highland/Lowland cultural division outwith the earlier Lordship of the Isles was also at it's most pronounced from about 1500-1800, the era when the great kilt and later little kilt developed from the older saffron robes of the clan elites, and can be over-stated today. Gaelic was once spoken in Galloway and variants of Scots long spoken in Caithness. For example most of Argyll and Bute is Highland (the geographic boundary fault line passes through Rothesay), but culturally closer to Glasgow and west-central Scotland, than Inverness and its hinterland.

In my experience as a kid in a kilt-wearing family (and although a minority there were others like us) in Lowland Scotland in the 70's and early 80's, I was often teased by some for wearing the kilt as my Sunday best or as part of Scout uniform, but it owed more to the socio-economic class of those who affected to despise it than to their cultural or ethnic origins. In the past 20 years this seems to have changed somewhat, but whether that is because my peers grew up or indicative of a deeper change I am not sure. Children and teenagers love to tease that which is different or they perceive as old-fashioned and I believe that was where it was coming from when I was younger.