Tweed Great Kilt

[Pleater]

The great kilt is great for sweeping cups off coffee tables, and anything else which happens to be on it at the time, and it has a tendency to snag on any handy knob or handle - and as for never passing a bicycle without grabbing handle bar, brake lever or even the saddle - 10/10 for that.
I thought it might make a cosy wrap around for winter mornings, but it very soon met with a pair of scissors and became a much better mannered dressing gown with pleats falling from a shoulder yoke.

Anne the Pleater.

[Jock Scot]

The great kilt is great for sweeping cups off coffee tables, and anything else which happens to be on it at the time, and it has a tendency to snag on any handy knob or handle - and as for never passing a bicycle without grabbing handle bar, brake lever or even the saddle - 10/10 for that.
I thought it might make a cosy wrap around for winter mornings, but it very soon met with a pair of scissors and became a much better mannered dressing gown with pleats falling from a shoulder yoke.

Anne the Pleater.

[OC Richard]

I have a kilt in the fabric you're probably talking about, by Marton Mills, 16 ounce tartan tweed, Hunting Stewart Weathered.

It's the nicest kilt I've ever had.

However it does seem thicker and heavier than ordinary 16 ounce worsted kilting cloth, though I suppose technically they're the same.

It would look beautiful in a breacan-an-feileadh though in addition to being heavy and bulky it's also hopelessly anachronistic, as "weathered tartans" were introduced in 1949 and the breacan-an-feileadh became a thing of history around the beginning of the 19th century.

It's films like Rob Roy and television programmes like Outlander which have cemented "weathered" tartans as having existed in early times.

We have to face the fact that for over 200 years the breacan-an-feileadh has been a historical garment. Being a former re-enactor I've spent plenty of time in historical clothing, but such isn't going to pass for current fashion. Wearing a breacan-an-feileadh calls for powdered wig and the rest of the panoply of 18th century fashion.

[MHorne39]

I have a kilt in the fabric you're probably talking about, by Marton Mills, 16 ounce tartan tweed, Hunting Stewart Weathered.

It's the nicest kilt I've ever had.

However it does seem thicker and heavier than ordinary 16 ounce worsted kilting cloth, though I suppose technically they're the same.

It would look beautiful in a breacan-an-feileadh though in addition to being heavy and bulky it's also hopelessly anachronistic, as "weathered tartans" were introduced in 1949 and the breacan-an-feileadh became a thing of history around the beginning of the 19th century.

It's films like Rob Roy and television programmes like Outlander which have cemented "weathered" tartans as having existed in early times.

We have to face the fact that for over 200 years the breacan-an-feileadh has been a historical garment. Being a former re-enactor I've spent plenty of time in historical clothing, but such isn't going to pass for current fashion. Wearing a breacan-an-feileadh calls for powdered wig and the rest of the panoply of 18th century fashion.

Thanks for your response! You’re absolutely right, it’s the Stewart Hunting Weathered Tweed that I have my eye on. I’m not too worried about ‘historical accuracy’ necessarily, i don’t wear them as part of re-enactment costumes or for anything similar. I’ve just fallen in love with the look of it (I’ll normally wear them with a grandfather shirt or t shirt and leave the tails behind me instead of pinning to the shoulder in ‘traditional Highlander’ fashion. I really enjoy the kind of tribal, rugged look of it and it keeps it, to me anyways, from looking too costumey. Really appreciate the input!

[Jock Scot]

Thanks for your response! You’re absolutely right, it’s the Stewart Hunting Weathered Tweed that I have my eye on. I’m not too worried about ‘historical accuracy’ necessarily, i don’t wear them as part of re-enactment costumes or for anything similar. I’ve just fallen in love with the look of it (I’ll normally wear them with a grandfather shirt or t shirt and leave the tails behind me instead of pinning to the shoulder in ‘traditional Highlander’ fashion. I really enjoy the kind of tribal, rugged look of it and it keeps it, to me anyways, from looking too costumey. Really appreciate the input!

Rest assured that if you dress as you wish then you WILL be be looking “ costumy” and you will certainly not be attired traditionally. Historically attired perhaps although the tartan won’t help. However, it’s your outfit and your life and you have the choice to dress as you please.

[OC Richard]

...a grandfather shirt...I really enjoy the tribal look...keep it from looking too costume-y.

Sorry but the breacan-an-feileadh IS historical costume and there's no way around it. I wouldn't wear a tricorn hat, knee breeches, buckled shoes, or a breacan-an-feileadh to a party because I have only ever worn historical outfits as part of a historical setting.

About the "grandfather shirt" I don't know if it's in the category of historical costume, or in the same category as the "pirate shirt/Jacobite shirt" which is a garment which never existed historically in any time-period or place and is entirely an invention of 1920s Hollywood.

Oh how Hollywood did love to put their beefcake actors in those! (As best I can reckon early Hollywood borrowed the style from 19th century baseball shirts, worn by the popular athletes of that time.)



About "tribal look" it's likewise a Hollywood creation with no historical antecedent.

I've gone down the rabbit-hole on that, and our concept of how "ancient Highlanders" looked seems to have originated with three Englishmen (John and Charles Allen, and Robert Jones) who met at the London Highland Society in the 1820s. Under fake Scottish names the brothers moved to Scotland and wrote a fanciful error-ridden book on the history of Highland Dress and produced a fake "ancient manuscript" of tartans, most of which they invented themselves.

Likewise under a fake Scottish name Robert Jones created equally fanciful illustrations of "ancient Highlanders" for a tartan book.



These outfits were picked up around 1900 for another tartan book.



The Allen brother's fake tartans are still in production, and Jones' fake "ancient Highlanders" are still followed by Hollywood costume designers and Ren Fair and Highland Games attendees.

I was a re-enactor. Re-enactors aren't interested in fantasy costumes. We do history. We spend large amounts of research to find out exactly what historical outfits looked like and spare little expense on getting our re-creations as correct as possible.

We don't wear historical costumes (or bits thereof) as part of everyday wear. There are times and places for historical costume, such as films and historical presentations.

[jthk]

I wonder if a person didn't have your extensive experience and education (I mean this as a complimen), would they still think that the great kilt was a historical costume? I doubt it. ;-)

Sorry but the breacan-an-feileadh IS historical costume and there's no way around it. I wouldn't wear a tricorn hat, knee breeches, buckled shoes, or a breacan-an-feileadh to a party because I have only ever worn historical outfits as part of a historical setting.

About the "grandfather shirt" I don't know if it's in the category of historical costume, or in the same category as the "pirate shirt/Jacobite shirt" which is a garment which never existed historically in any time-period or place and is entirely an invention of 1920s Hollywood.

Oh how Hollywood did love to put their beefcake actors in those! (As best I can reckon early Hollywood borrowed the style from 19th century baseball shirts, worn by the popular athletes of that time.)



About "tribal look" it's likewise a Hollywood creation with no historical antecedent.

I've gone down the rabbit-hole on that, and our concept of how "ancient Highlanders" looked seems to have originated with three Englishmen (John and Charles Allen, and Robert Jones) who met at the London Highland Society in the 1820s. Under fake Scottish names the brothers moved to Scotland and wrote a fanciful error-ridden book on the history of Highland Dress and produced a fake "ancient manuscript" of tartans, most of which they invented themselves.

Likewise under a fake Scottish name Robert Jones created equally fanciful illustrations of "ancient Highlanders" for a tartan book.



These outfits were picked up around 1900 for another tartan book.



The Allen brother's fake tartans are still in production, and Jones' fake "ancient Highlanders" are still followed by Hollywood costume designers and Ren Fair and Highland Games attendees.

I was a re-enactor. Re-enactors aren't interested in fantasy costumes. We do history. We spend large amounts of research to find out exactly what historical outfits looked like and spare little expense on getting our re-creations as correct as possible.

We don't wear historical costumes (or bits thereof) as part of everyday wear. There are times and places for historical costume, such as films and historical presentations.

[Jock Scot]

I wonder if a person didn't have your extensive experience and education (I mean this as a complimen), would they still think that the great kilt was a historical costume? I doubt it. ;-)

I think to most in Scotland educated or not (and lets not forget, by the way, that most in Scotland don't wear the kilt at all, ever) would consider the great kilt as an unnecessary garment. Historical? Yes. Relevant to todays situations? Absolutely not. But then, most here in Scotland, don't have these romantic thoughts-------apart from romantic thoughts about winning a football championship!---------- that some of those outwith these shores seem to have.

As seen at the latest international football matches the kilt in its more modern form is the way the kilt is worn by the Scots supporters. Albeit in many different ways! So yes, from the Scots point of view, the great kilt , particularly so in a non tartan form, would be thought of as being most definitely a historical and an irrelevant theatrical costume.

Sorry, but you did ask.

[Jock Scot]

I wonder if a person didn't have your extensive experience and education (I mean this as a complimen), would they still think that the great kilt was a historical costume? I doubt it. ;-)

I don't want to split hairs here but, I think a question mark denotes a question.