Why don't people wear their kilts more?

[Karl R]

To me, if a guy has a kilt, and he wears it - even once a year to his local highland games - he is then wearing it at the exact frequency that is best for him.

Someone else may have totally different reasons and may think about the kilt totally differently from you. You cannot apply your reasoning to someone else.

Its not about spot, its not about any of the other things you mention.
I have one friend who wears his kilt only to an annual Burns dinner. He does not wear it to our local highland games or any other time. He just does not want to.

I think you're overlooking the obvious, in your attempt to be right.

In the first example, the gentleman saw me in my kilt, and his knee-jerk reaction was, "Damn it! I should have worn my kilt."

It sounds to me like that he wanted to wear his kilt. He wanted to wear it to that occasion. He's not wearing a kilt when he wants to, and when he thinks he ought to.

That sounds very different from your one friend ... unless that friend spends his time at the highland games wishing that he'd worn his kilt.

Others have said similar things in this thread....

A number of times when I have been kilted in the city of Wellington guys have said they have a kilt and “should wear it”.

It's not just Houston, I live in Kansas City (Kansas side). I attended Lodge last month wearing a kilt and was approached by a couple of Lodge brothers who stated that if they had known someone was going to wear a kilt they would have worn theirs.

regardless of the occasion or circumstances, every time I've actually debated whether or not to kilt up and chose not to, I've regretted it [....] I also have often the experience when I do wear a kilt to a particular event and other men in attendance pointed out that they too own a kilt, and my response, of course, is always "So WHY aren't you wearing it?" (their sheepish reaction and their wives' nodding approval is always amusing). So perhaps it is ultimately a matter of "conditioning", as they say in Psychology.

I wear a kilt almost everyday. In my travels I run across guys that approach me and say "I have a kilt and maybe I should have worn mine today". Why didn't they do so? Just because of what Tobus said. They don't want to be the only one.

I really think Tobus and Mike in Dayton have a point. Many kilt owners want to wear their kilt more. They just don't want to be the only one.

But as far as the OP's experience goes, at that concert I too would have worn Highland Dress because I've not owned a suit in decades. I can't see going to the expense of buying a suit that I would very rarely wear (being as I'm in Southern California) when I have Highland Dress that will serve when needed.

Your point-of-view makes perfect sense (to me). And it's also a complete counterpoint to the examples described above.

Those examples went to the expense of buying a kilt that they don't wear. That, to me, seems ... not entirely rational.

(In all fairness, two of my three initial examples were presumably happy with their wardrobe choices on the evenings I chatted with them.)

I’ve no occasion.

I sort of get this ... and I sort of don't.

I fully understand not wearing a kilt where there's no occasion. I'm not really searching for reasons to wear my kilt to work (even though a few of my coworkers might be amused). My business is a little too conservative for kilt-wearing. It might be tolerated. But I'm not sufficiently motivated to test the boundaries of that. Particularly not on the average workday, when I expect to be preoccupied with work. I also don't wear a kilt around the house. I have other (less expensive) clothes for that.

On the other hand, we have some control over the occasions we attend, and we have much more control over what we consider to be an "occasion." When planning a date night with my wife, I could choose dinner theatre (with a semi-formal/formal dress code) ... or I could choose the Houston rodeo ... where a kilt would be ... um ... a less obvious wardrobe choice.

And even at a fancy dinner theatre, where a kilt was clearly appropriate attire, nobody would have faulted me for choosing not to wear one. It was my choice whether or not it constituted an "occasion" for a kilt, or not.

Next weekend is St. Patrick's Day. One of my (two) kilts is the Irish Heritage kilt. Therefore, that seems to me to be a sufficient occasion to wear a kilt. I will probably wear my kilt at least once in the coming weekend. Probably twice. Maybe three times.

I think imbrius gave some good examples of how one can choose that something is an "occasion" worthy of a kilt.

[Me cousin Jack]

@Karl R
I guess I don’t get what you don’t get, “iv’e no occassion” perhaps if I were more enamored with said garment, but for me it’s not like that.

[Jock Scot]

The one and only time I have worn a kilt down south, in Yorkshire actually, and it was over 20 years ago now, the reaction was mixed from “There goes a Scotsman” to one comedian making a comment about skirts. Overall I felt that there was a touch of envy, perhaps they would have liked such an outfit themselves.
I can’t say I have had anything but respectful comments, if any at all, in this part of Scotland but I can imagine that may not always have been the case in the past.

I am led to believe that the people of York were instructed in times long past, to kill Scotsmen on sight and I don't think the order has been officially countermanded and whilst no one these days takes all that seriously, I think it does give them an opportunity to have some tongue in cheek fun at our expense.

[Highland Logan]

Most people tend to conform to what everyone else expects. Which is not a bad thing in and of itself. So most will not do what they would like to do, which is why when they find someone in a kilt, out and about, they may tell them, that they wished they've worn their kilt. But as also stated, many only have one to wear to a couple of events a year, they are happy and comfortable with that, and it's what they chose to do.

So really it all boils down to individuals choice. My kilt wearing habits are mine and mine alone. I care not if others wear them along with the where's and why's. If I knew someone who felt, they would like to wear it more often, I may ask why they don't and maybe offer an encouraging word, but the choice is theirs.

I chose not to lament on the numbers of regular, causal or one night-a-year kilt wearing. I wear mine when I chose, when I feel I can, and that's all I can control, and am personally concerned with.

Frank

[tpa]

Are you exaggerating, Peter? Beyond expressions of approval, I am never asked these questions, even in England.

Alan

My experience is the same. Aside from occasional expressions of approval, the odd question about whether I am Scottish or "what is the tartan?" but very rarely "what is the occasion?" Occasionally males will venture onto what is or is not worn under it, but they don't get any form of confirmation other than the inappropriateness of the question and usually in no uncertain terms from my wife if she is there.

[jthk]

I'm similar: I wear a kilt every-day unless the situation doesn't call for it; i.e. felling trees requires protective chaps and trousers are more practical for this situation. When I don't wear a kilt, people who know me often inquire why. It's rare for me to be questioned now about my kilt unless someone doesn't know me and even then, it's usually a brief and pleasant exchange.

Like Mike, about once a week another man will tell me that they have their own but don't wear it as often as they want to.

Best,
Jonathan

I wear a kilt almost everyday. In my travels I run across guys that approach me and say "I have a kilt and maybe I should have worn mine today". Why didn't they do so? Just because of what Tobus said. They don't want to be the only one.

Since I wear a kilt almost everyday I am past the "only one" and "center of attention" fear. It has become almost the opposite for me. I feel strange when not in the kilt. Today, for example, I have a weekly lunch with friends. It is very cold in Ohio today. It was 10F (-12C) when I got up this morning. It won't be much warmer at lunchtime. I am thinking about wearing jeans today. I know I will get a lot of gruff from the guys if I show up in pants.

[geljal]

This whole topic is a true puzzle to me. Having so recently joined the ranks of the kilt wearers, I now am acutely aware of this issue. This past weekend my wife and I attended the South Florida Renaissance Festival, both of us in our kilts. Now aside from whether or not kilts would even be an appropriate garment in such an event, I believe the idea was to recreate a small English village sometime in the 1500's and I can't imagine that kilts would have been that common a garment back there and then, I could not help but notice that a sizable percentage, more than half at a guess, of the men there were in kilts. Plus I noticed that the kilt vendors, I think there were three, all appeared to be doing a pretty good business. I could not help but wonder how many of them will wear their new kilts beyond that day though I'm certainly many would like to do so.

Now the take away I get from this is that men want to and enjoy wearing kilts. I know, I'm one of them. I even get complimented when I'm kilted, and I don't ever get compliments otherwise. The second is that given an opportunity, any opportunity in which we feel secure or at least not alone, we are going to don our kilts. I'm not saying the kilt will ever take the place of jeans, shorts or whatever, but certainly it can share the stage so to speak with these other popular players and not be considered odd.

On the way home we stopped at the local grocery store to pick up a prescription. I went from being on the masses to being the lone kilt wearer. I could not help but be aware of it On the other hand, even though I expected at least something, stares maybe even comments, I don't think anyone even gave me a second glance. Nothing was really different at all.

We live in a permissive age of personal self expression and yet this one thing, that really should have no baring on anything beyond the wearer seems to be a hurdle, at least for me. It's a quandary.

[Father Bill]

I am now completely confused, or is it the poster and the curious fact of why people were wearing Scottish highland dress at a recreation of a “small English village”? Is this just a simple misunderstanding of the relationship between England and Scotland in the 16th century or an inability to distinguish between the distinctive cultures of the two nations?
If anyone wants to re-create 16th century English culture then wearing a kilt is most definitely not the way. In fact it is little short of an calumny to anyone of Scottish ancestry. This period was known as the “Rough wooing, 1543 - 1551”, when Henry VIII pursued a vicious war against Scotland when “English policy was simply to pulverise Scotland, to beat her either into acquiescence or out of existence, and Hertford's campaigns resemble nothing so much as Nazi total warfare, "blitzkrieg", reign of terror, extermination of all resisters, the encouragement of collaborators, and so on”
Quite why anyone could conflate such a horrific period with Scottish culture simply displays a degree of insensitivety beyond understanding to anyone of Scottish culture and is completely incomprehensible as a result.

Steve, if I understand it correctly, this is an American "Ren-faire" which again, as best I understand it, is a group of people who like to dress up in ways that they'd never do to walk down the street, portraying their fantasy of how history might have been. It is neither historical, nor accurate, just done for fun.

I've never been to one of these, but that's my understanding of what they generally are.

[geljal]

Steve, if I understand it correctly, this is an American "Ren-faire" which again, as best I understand it, is a group of people who like to dress up in ways that they'd never do to walk down the street, portraying their fantasy of how history might have been. It is neither historical, nor accurate, just done for fun.

I've never been to one of these, but that's my understanding of what they generally are.

Exactly correct, I didn't mean to imply it is meant to be a historically accurate representation or educational by any means. They definitely are not. Rather they are generally just a good time with many performers, demonstrations, vendors, food, and of course beer. My point was more that given an opportunity, even if dubious or inappropriate, as Steve pointed out, we will start wearing kilts so why do we need or require such opportunities?

[Highland Logan]

Read the poster wrong