Utility of the Great Kilt

[Steelkilt]

It sounds like the general consensus (so far) is that any added utility is overshadowed by the cumbersome nature of the garment. I appreciate your informative points of view!

[Jock Scot]

Only 80 years of wearing the kilt in the Highlands, and you think you’re qualified to give an option? ��

Thank you for your input!

My pleasure my dear fellow.

I only offered an opinion after you asked for "thoughts" in your first post here. As to an option, well I suppose you can look like a refugee from a pantomime by wearing a great kilt or, you can choose to wear something more appropriate. That is an option that is most certainly open to you.

[RichardtheLarge]

As to an option, well I suppose you can look like a refugee from a pantomime

Savage.

[Steelkilt]

...look like a refugee from a pantomime

I’ll try to avoid that!

[Steve Ashton]

I am curious. I have heard the claims of the "added utility" and how it was "a garment with many functions".
But I don't remember anyone listing, or even better, demonstrating the veracity of these claims.

Would someone with actual experience wearing what we see as examples of this garment, please demonstrate and give their opinion as to the "utility" and "many functions".

For example - Someone recently, wearing a few yards of 10 oz modern kilt fabric, claimed that what they were wearing could be used as a blanket at night. Can anyone who has ever spent a night, rough on the side of a mountain, in the Highlands of Scotland, wrapped only in a length of modern kilt fabric, please give their review?

A youtuber, demonstrating how they put one on, went on and on about how practical the garment was to wear throughout the 20 or so min. that they hand pleated it on the ground. They continued to relate how utilitarian the garment is, for an additional 10 min., all the while tugging and arranging the fabric into neat pleats. Then the moved around and went through the tugging, pleating operation again.

I guess I have just never seen real world examples of this "added utility garment of many functions" and am curious if the claims are true.

[Steelkilt]

I am curious. I have heard the claims of the "added utility" and how it was "a garment with many functions".

Would someone with actual experience wearing what we see as examples of this garment, please demonstrate and give their opinion as to the "utility" and "many functions".

This is what I should have asked, thank you Steve.

[Touchstone]

I personally have trouble understanding why anyone would want to appear in public wearing something that is cumbersome, and whose practicality has been eclipsed by centuries of development, evolution, improvement and societal development, unless it were to a costumed or historical re-enactment event.

Well, I wear a great kilt only to re-enactment events, but to be fair - I don't think a tuxedo is the most comfortable attire (neither is a clerical collar, I imagine), but I wear one under appropriate circumstances.

[Touchstone]

I am curious. I have heard the claims of the "added utility" and how it was "a garment with many functions".
But I don't remember anyone listing, or even better, demonstrating the veracity of these claims.

Would someone with actual experience wearing what we see as examples of this garment, please demonstrate and give their opinion as to the "utility" and "many functions".

For example - Someone recently, wearing a few yards of 10 oz modern kilt fabric, claimed that what they were wearing could be used as a blanket at night. Can anyone who has ever spent a night, rough on the side of a mountain, in the Highlands of Scotland, wrapped only in a length of modern kilt fabric, please give their review?

A youtuber, demonstrating how they put one on, went on and on about how practical the garment was to wear throughout the 20 or so min. that they hand pleated it on the ground. They continued to relate how utilitarian the garment is, for an additional 10 min., all the while tugging and arranging the fabric into neat pleats. Then the moved around and went through the tugging, pleating operation again.

I guess I have just never seen real world examples of this "added utility garment of many functions" and am curious if the claims are true.

Again, I'm speaking as a re-enactor - I'm not promoting the great kilt as everyday dress, of course.

I wouldn't use it by choice to sleep under/on-top-of; but it would do the job if you didn't have anything else.

The utility, such as it is, is that the upper half (almost two-thirds, actually) can be worn decoratively over the shoulder; unpinned to wrap around oneself for warmth; or even pulled over the head, taking advantage of wool's water-repellent properties during rain. (Admitttedly, I've used one only in a brief rain; I usually have a felted cloak with me if I'm expecting serious rain). Of course, there are modern garments which do the latter two things better. I suppose you could say, though, that it's somewhat more convenient to wear one garment than to carry a bedroll, a breathable jacket and a rain jacket.

(Your youtuber is a duffer; I can get into one in 10 minutes or so. And in the olden days I doubt they spent as much time as I do worrying about perfect pleats. The idea is just to fold most of the fabric comfortably out of the way.)

[Father Bill]

Well, I wear a great kilt only to re-enactment events, but to be fair - I don't think a tuxedo is the most comfortable attire (neither is a clerical collar, I imagine), but I wear one under appropriate circumstances.

I have often worn a black dinner jacket - what you call a tuxedo - and obviously spend a lot of time with a clerical collar. Both are extremely comfortable if you wear the right size and often enough to learn how to wear them.

[Pleater]

I go to Sidmouth folk festival most years, a week long camping trip. These days I hire an ordinary van and set up my bed etc in the back.
One year I arrived back at the van after cycling in a very heavy rainstorm - I could not have got any wetter if I had tried.
I had been wearing a woollen kilt and long plaid wrapped around myself, over a linen tunic, so I got the bike under its cover, climbed into the van and stripped off, hung up the wet garments in the doorway but I could not release the door to close it. I found a towel to dry my hair, and realised that I was dangerously cold.

I had the equivalent of a great kilt folded double and laid on top of the bed, so not wanting to get the bedding wet I slid in between the two layers of wool fabric and found the pillows, then settled down to warm up. Next thing I knew it was next morning and I was warm and dry.
The side door of the van was wide open. I have a couple of straps so that I can leave it open a few inches or tie it back fully open - the spot I use is slightly sloping so the door slides shut if not held.

I was surprised - even though I had a dry place to lie down, that just the one layer of wool fabric had kept me warm even though I had been dripping wet. The place I park is against a bank with a hedge on top, so fairly sheltered even on a stormy night.

I had three changes of clothing packed, having been in Sidmouth and knowing how variable the weather can be during the first week in August, so I had breakfast and set off for another day of the festival. Some people had decided to go home, I found, and others had spent the night in their cars.

A 16oz black watch tartan seems to be more than a match for a dark and stormy night in Southern England.