No Kilts seen in Scotland!

[Panache]

Another good point from Jock, that's there's more to it than whether you're wearing a kilt or not.

Does your overall level of formality suit the occasion?

Did you take care when dressing yourself? Are you wearing things as they're customarily worn? (The backwards kilts, sloppy neckties, etc.)

Here in the USA it's common for kilted gents to be wildly overdressed for the occasion. The men appear to be wearing every bit of Highland Dress they own, their closets bare when they walk out their doors.

Richard,

While I certainly have seen my share of overdressed people in Highland attire over the years, I think there is another factor. This is that simply that for men comfort and casualness have become ever prevalent over dressing up.

I and my friend Bill often attend the same events and we have had on many occasions been accused of planning our outfits together (which we don't). Bill and I are careful in our appearance and while we always look smart, we do so following the old rules of men's dress. Ties are nowadays a rarity. Waistcoats? Unless worn over a t-shirt with jeans....seldom seen. Hats? Save baseball caps, not too common. So often Bill and I, even though we are wearing the right outfits for the occasion in the right manner....we often stand out like characters in a play or a movie because we are the only men following those old rules.

I accept this because I like ties. I like waistcoats. I like pants worn at a proper height. I like well trimmed facial hair. I like hats....etc. I like wearing things the proper way. Here on XMTS we are actively trying to learn how to wear highland attire in a respectful and proper way...the only problem is that the vast majority of other men around us adhere to an ever increasingly casual standard. So we stand out for our highland attire and appearing far too formal in a casual world.



SIGH!!!

[Tomo]

Hello
Im in Ayr too and agree with what you say. Its the same all over now though. Kilts for formal but not as the standard dress. I feel eccentric too as Ive often worn my kilt in Ayr and other towns in the area. Surprisingly though it always meets with remarks about how good it is to see the kilt being worn by men nowadays. I often also take a run up to Glasgow wearing my kilts. Always well received so I dont quite get why we dont see more of them. I keep hoping I'll start something going about kilt wearing so will keep fingers crossed. I also wore a kilt to church as a boy and also to school by choice and it was never really a talking point. Kilts were hard wearing and didnt go out of fashion and could be passed onto another family member when I grew out of them. My sister used to tell me when my kilt was too short and she'd also tell mum that I should have another one!

Whilst I don't wear a kilt for the whole trip - I do when I meet my groups. A couple of years ago, while waiting for my group at Edinburgh Airport, an older lady came over to me and comment that it was nice to see someone properly dressed. She went on to say that it was sad that her children and grandkids rarely if ever wore kilts these days and that that they had packed all the tweed and tartan into the loft - and the moths had propably got at it by now...

[Tobus]

What we do see fairly often is people visiting from Texas or Mexico wearing ordinary utilitarian Western Wear. It's obvious that it's the everyday clothing of these people. In some families it seems to be a generational thing, only the Grandpa being in Western Wear.

Yes, the everyday westernwear for folks here is markedly different than the tourists expect. And to tie this back to the subject at hand, it's almost a parallel with what Scots observe with tourists wearing Highlandwear. As Jock Scot is so fond of pointing out, they don't typically wear patterned hose, day plaids, or even bonnets in most cases. When they do wear the kilt, it's a modern streamlined look, and adaptable to the weather conditions with non-Highland-specific accoutrements. The same goes here. Boots and jeans and a tucked-in button-up shirt with a straw hat is a far cry from the Hollywood caricature that the play-dress-up folks want to strut around in. And the old-timers here just shake their heads at people who wear their spurs in town. That's a big no-no amongst the more traditional folks. Then there's the issue of carrying those things we're not allowed to talk about on this forum, but that you see every cowboy in every western film wearing on his hip. Yep, that seems to be part of the costume these days too, as it's perfectly legal here now. While foreign tourists typically can't partake in that, plenty of tourists from elsewhere in the USA do.

One of the reasons I moved away was that the tourist thing was getting a bit out of hand. They come in and think this is the place to act like rowdy cowboys, as if this were a role-playing amusement park instead of an actual living town. We used to ride our horses into town and put them on the hitching post (which they still have in front of many businesses). I wouldn't dare do that now, for safety reasons. We also used to run a stagecoach in town and take tourists on little tours. But the weekend cowboys have ruined that.

Ugh, I could rant for days. Suffice it to say that I completely understand the Scottish perspective when they see non-Scots wearing the kilt in Scotland, and especially when they're wearing it in a costume-like fashion.

[Jock Scot]

This is tricky to write, but I will attempt to do so without upsetting anyone.

Do you know this thread makes a local kilt wearer, like me, sound like some Lesser Spotted Ferruginous Sand Piper which might be a rare bird only seen once in a decade. I am beginning to understand the young man who started my train of thought on this tricky subject in my post "Two Telling Comments".

I have not worn the kilt for almost two years, mainly because I had a severe accident to my leg, but for the last few months I am now in a fit state to be able to wear the kilt without any bother should I wish to and to be perfectly honest I really don't wish to.

This thread has crystallised my thinking started by the "Two Telling Comments" thread that I started some years ago. I really don't want to be a tourist attraction where wearing the kilt is a sighting that is ticked off on a list almost like some rare bird by some visitor and then reported on the internet as a "rare kilt sighting in Fort William!"

I will wear the kilt when and where I will feel like it, I will wear it traditionally, I don't want to look like a tourist and I don't want to be regarded as some rarity on the internet either.

[Tobus]

I will wear the kilt when and where I will feel like it, I will wear it traditionally, I don't want to look like a tourist and I don't want to be regarded as some rarity on the internet either.

Good sir, you are a rarity whether you are wearing the kilt or not!

[Jock Scot]

Good sir, you are a rarity whether you are wearing the kilt or not!

Oh crumbs!

[MacKenzie]

Hello
I'm in Ayr too and agree with what you say. Its the same all over now though. Kilts for formal but not as the standard dress. I feel eccentric too as I've often worn my kilt in Ayr and other towns in the area. Surprisingly though it always meets with remarks about how good it is to see the kilt being worn by men nowadays.

Hats? Save baseball caps, not too common.

When the weather dictates it, my wife will wear a hat out and about (not a ball cap). Every... single... time she will get comments from "older" people about how nobody wears hats anymore, especially ladies.

Jamie's post (#81) outlines the problem succinctly, IMO. The "old ways" of caring how you present when out in public are gone. Jamie graciously called it "casualness". I think slovenly is a better word. I'm not talking about how people dress at a beach or back yard party. I'm talking about guys wearing a two or three piece suit to a business meeting with their shirt untucked, the top button undone and the tie, if present, hanging around their neck like a bandana. And who decided that the "haven't shaved in three days" look was a good look? Is that part of that "lumber-sexual" thing?

But that's what is accepted and expected now. You clean up and step out looking sharp and people think you're a high brow poser. Heaven forbid you wear a fedora or some other non-ball cap head gear.

To echo Tobus & Panache: Ugh! Sigh!

Next Friday we will attend a live performance of Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical at a local theatre. We'll be the high brow posers.

Respectfully,
- The Boomer

[OC Richard]

I really don't want to be a tourist attraction where wearing the kilt is a sighting that is ticked off on a list almost like some rare bird by some visitor and then reported on the internet as a "rare kilt sighting in Fort William!"

That's hilarious! But unfortunately rather likely to happen.

I've been on that side of things! Back when I was 18, 6 foot 4 and rail-thin, wearing my then-daily attire of boot-cut jeans, cowboy boots (quite plain), silver Navajo buckle, Western work shirt, and grey cowboy hat, walking around Disneyland and being repeatedly stopped by Japanese tourists wanting a photo with me, as if I was some kind of tourist attraction.

[Father Bill]

The key word here is "attraction". It indicates fascination, respect, affection, etc. They want a picture because they think this is something that is valuable and good.

Accept the respect.

[Jock Scot]

The key word here is "attraction". It indicates fascination, respect, affection, etc. They want a picture because they think this is something that is valuable and good.

Accept the respect.

Hummm,I am sorry Bill that I don't see it that way. I agree with the "fascination" bit in part, I honestly see little respect-----with the notable exception from the Orientals, absolutely no affection and I am not at all sure that there is any sign of thoughts that think the kilt is valuable and good.

From long experience I have only the impression that viewing the kilt is just part of a box ticking exercise. Such as, Distilery-tick, tweed shop-tick, hills(mountains)-tick, museums-tick, lochs-tick, heather in flower-tick, golf courses-tick, ruins-tick, stately home-tick, battered mars bars- tick, Nessie--- errr ummm-tick, etc, etc, etc, etc.. Oh and a sight of someone wearing the kilt would be nice-tick!