Party Scottish style.

[tpa]

The kilt is alive and well in Scotland... or is it? At the weekend I attended a relative's 80th birthday party just north of Glasgow in Scotland. Not only was mine the only kilt there, it was also the only tartan in evidence anywhere at the venue and there were 74 guests across all age bands. Although I took over 100 photos, I am not aware anyone deemed me sufficiently photogenic as to warrant a picture, certainly none have apperared in the dozens on facebook, although a couple of ladies expressed appreciation that I had done so.

Over the weekend I did briefly spy one other gent wearing a kilt, another guest in the hotel foyer the day we arrived.

[Father Bill]

I'm saddened by this trend to oblivion.

[Jimmy]

No , wrong the kilt is alive and well in Scotland, plenty of kilties about especially at weekends for weddings and parties . It is just that the kilt is not conducive to everyday wear and it would be surprising if we saw men in their droves going to work in their kilts. The kilt is and never was designed for everyday wear even now and in the past.
Perhaps we should remember that the kilt is a selective form of dress and is only worn when the occasion warrants it, yes i know that we have people here in Scotland and abroad who wear the kilt daily but they are a very minute minority of kilt wearers ( who i admire and congratulate for their adherence to the kilt on a daily basis).
But look at the increasing numbers of kilt wearers at highland games whether participants or not, the increasing number at a Burns night celebration, the increasing number of new kilt wearers at formal occasions such as weddings and of course the multitude of kilt wearers at national football and rugby matches in Scotland. Although the last group despite comprising of mostly young adults who are proud of their country and of wearing their national dress seem to be the most maligned kilt wearers by many on this forum.
Go to a pipe band championship venue in Scotland and see the many young people of both sexes proudly wearing the kilt.
Yes the kilt is alive and well in Scotland, and does not the phenomenal increase in kilt hire shops in almost every town in Scotland bear witness to this.
But tell me with the changeable and miserable weather we get in Scotland who would want to wear a kilt every day and spend the next day drying it out
,

[davidlpope]

Not surprising, since you were in the Lowlands.

[Jock Scot]

I'm saddened by this trend to oblivion.

What trend to oblivion? TPA was in the lowlands(just?) and the "do" was not an International football match, so it all sounds absolutely consistently normal to me. There are very few Scots, even in the Highlands, that are full-time kilt wearers. I have only ever known of two personally in Scotland in my lifetime and to be clear here , I do not wear the kilt in the Highlands on a daily basis and I have no wish to. The kilt is and has always been in my experience, an occasional attire choice for some----not all, as they don't wear the kilt at all--- and is almost invariably kept for special occasions by most kilt wearers.

I am disappointed(not offended) by your comment Bill, as it seems that the message that I and others on this website who have been informing the members here of this salient point, has not got through. We Scots on this website must do better, it seems! Certainly for as long as I can remember here on this website, I thought and hoped, that that message had been made very clear.

[neloon]

As an all-day-every-day kiltie, I obviously do not agree with Jimmy and Jock!

Alan

[Jock Scot]

No worries Alan, I had a feeling that you are a full time kilt wearer. Out of interest, how many full time kilt wearers in Scotland do you know?

[neloon]

No worries Alan, I had a feeling that you are a full time kilt wearer. Out of interest, how many full time kilt wearers in Scotland do you know?

Nowadays, Jock, I do not personally know any other full-timers. (That's because so many fancy-dressers like you and Jimmy tell everyone it doesn't make sense. )
Of course, in many cases, the employer does not allow the kilt to be worn. That does not stop our well-known Insch signaller, John McFarlane. another full-time kiltie.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bennac...-pqNmY6-7GP49b
https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774...7127c65c_m.jpg
His kilts
https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042...cbb199be_m.jpg

Alan

[Jock Scot]

Well OK, full time kilt wearing does not make sense to me and my lifestyle Alan, that is a fact. If it fits into your way of life then good for you.

My two full time kilt wearers have passed on, so there is just you in your sphere of life, the signaller and the farmer that you know of by one means or another, so hardly a crowd then! No doubt there may be a handful more dotted about Scotland that we both are unaware of, so I think Jimmy has a point in that full time kilt wearing is not an option that the Scots in Scotland choose to make very often.

[neloon]

Jock,
"...full time kilt wearing is not an option that the Scots in Scotland choose to make very often."
Agreed - that is an obvious fact nowadays. But why? I can see that kilts and moving machinery don't go together - even I recognise that chainsawing kilted is unwise!

Well OK, full time kilt wearing does not make sense to me and my lifestyle Alan, that is a fact.

Without wishing to be intrusive, I'm wandering if you could give us an honest appraisal of where there are clashes between your kilt and your lifestyle.

Alan