How NOT to wear a kilt

[kiltedsawyer]

I came across an ad, on a popular "social media" site, by someone offering a kilt for sale, "only worn once" and had to share the photo used ( :

The guy on the far right clearly has the kilt on backwards. But the guy on the far left has two straps on the right side, but buckled in reverse. Is this a skirt?

Cheers,

David

[jsrnephdoc]

The guy on the far right clearly has the kilt on backwards. But the guy on the far left has two straps on the right side, but buckled in reverse. Is this a skirt?

Cheers,

David

WAY back when I was in college, I made my first venture into wearing the family colors. Shortly after arrival for my freshman year, I discovered that my dorm advisor played the Pipes (AMAZINGLY well). He was the Pipe Major for the College's band, so 2 or 3 of us minnows came under his wing and acquired practice chanters. My 5 years younger sister had a ladies kilt in the almost impossibly garish red Robertson modern dress tartan, which I borrowed from her and wore whenever the band performed over the next four years. I never got beyond learning Scotland the Brave, The Rowan Tree, and one other march whose name I can't remember (no, it was NOT my favorite, The Black Bear); to keep the bag inflated, I had to plug the drones with wine corks. Two summers ago and more than 50 years later, sitting in the stands at the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo, my sister "reminded" me that I'd never returned that kilt! Back when I wore it, I had NO practical understanding of the differences between kilts and kilted skirts, but no one else complained when I wore it.

My mom, a small, much loved, but fierce disciplinarian high school English Teacher, was buried in her favorite teaching uniform (Robertson Red Waistcoat, silk blouse, and kilt). My sister gathered the attire and delivered it to the undertaker, but when we all arrived for the wake, Margie was horrified to discover that he'd dressed Mom with the pleats IN FRONT!

Of course, her requiem Eucharist was highlighted by a piper celebrating her life with the singularly AMERICAN tune that is so beautiful on the Pipes: (no, this is not a link to that performance, but it brings tears to my eyes every time I watch and listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQU...&start_radio=1

It makes no difference whether you're an atheist, flat-earther who's certain the universe was created in six days, or anywhere in between, if you've ever loved MUSIC, you'll be visiting this URL many, many times with tears in your own eyes.

[OC Richard]

...the singularly AMERICAN tune that is so beautiful on the Pipes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQU...&start_radio=1

Beautifully sung, and I do like that the pipers took it at a more stately tempo than is usually heard.

The standard Hymnal version is generally taken at around 100 beats per minute, which is pretty much the default tempo for Hymns in general (except the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, who do everything slow).

Right on that the tune we now use for the set of words Amazing Grace is, as far as we know, purely American. It first appears in The Virginia Harmony, 1831, where it's used for a different Hymn.

In The Southern Harmony, 1847, the tune is for the first time associated with the set of words Amazing Grace.

The standard Hymnal version of the tune is somewhat different than the way it was arranged for the bagpipe in its bagpipe debut on the 1972 album Farewell to the Greys which is still my favourite bagpipe version.

The brass chords are understated and perfect, and there's a lovely French Horn descant (which starts at 1:38)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drti...&start_radio=1

Now there is no tune "Amazing Grace", which is an utterly tuneless set of words.

The tune heard above is called NEW BRITAIN in The Southern Harmony.

In 19th century New England books the most common tune used for Amazing Grace was FIDUCIA, which I much prefer.

(In traditional Hymnody tune-titles are written in all capital letters.)

The traditional New England Amazing Grace sung to the tune FIDUCIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmFK...&start_radio=1

And here's Amazing Grace sung to the old Hymn-tune KINGSFOLD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCBr...&start_radio=1

[OC Richard]

Back to the topic How Not To Wear A Kilt yes at every Games people are to be seen wearing a kilt backwards.

Or proudly wearing their beautiful new kilt with the basting stitches still in place!

(Spotted at a Games last year. I didn't have the heart to tell the guy.)



And drummers (why is it always the drummers?) wearing their kilts super low



Worse, because it can't be fixed by simply hiking your kilt up, are all the Americans (why is it always the Americans?) who insist or ordering their kilts far too short. They're growed-up-men ordering kilt lengths that in the old days would only be for Youths.



The answer, of course, is to order your jacket with a super-long waistcoat

[CBH]

The guy with the basting thread still in place also has a kilt that is WAY too long. Or is it that it was made to be worn higher (traditionally) and he's just wearing it on his pants waist ?

My wool kilts were both ordered to be worn on the pants waist - low. Both shops agreed that it was OK, and they were well versed in making them this way. Yet in both cases, the fell is still 4 - 6", which of course, is the problem. That causes the pleats to open far below the point where your butt starts and you need the extra room. So that makes it tight and not as comfy or easy to move around in as it should be. And because the length is short, wearing it higher is not an option either.

Is there a construction reason the fell can't be around 1 1/2 to 2" ?

[TheDruidOfCelina]

I've been away from kilts for so long that it didn't even dawn on me what was wrong until someone said it.

[OC Richard]

The guy with the basting thread still in place also has a kilt that is WAY too long. Or is it that it was made to be worn higher (traditionally) and he's just wearing it on his pants waist ?

From what I could see the kilt was the proper length, as you say he was just wearing it way too low.

My wool kilts were both ordered to be worn on the pants waist, low...in both cases, the fell is still 4 - 6", which of course, is the problem...it causes the pleats to open far below the point where your butt starts...

Is there a construction reason the fell can't be around 1 1/2 to 2" ?

That's an issue I'd never thought of!

For sure traditional kiltmakers are going to make kilts the traditional way as a matter of course, with the fell around 1/3 the length.

By making a "hip-hugger kilt" (or whatever it might be called) you're going outside of the realm of Highland Dress and in effect creating a new style of garment that calls for a new style of construction.

For one thing the traditional "waist" and "breech" measurements won't do, because the new garment isn't at the waist. I'm not sure what the new measurements would be, or what they would be called.

[User]

...
Or proudly wearing their beautiful new kilt with the basting stitches still in place!
...

I might as well confess, the first time I wore a kilt, I didn't see the basting stitches. It wasn't until I was undressing that night that I noticed them. I remember thinking "What are those? They don't look like they should be there. Oh dear."

[jsrnephdoc]

Beautifully sung, and I do like that the pipers took it at a more stately tempo than is usually heard.

The standard Hymnal version is generally taken at around 100 beats per minute, which is pretty much the default tempo for Hymns in general (except the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, who do everything slow).

Right on that the tune we now use for the set of words Amazing Grace is, as far as we know, purely American. It first appears in The Virginia Harmony, 1831, where it's used for a different Hymn.

In The Southern Harmony, 1847, the tune is for the first time associated with the set of words Amazing Grace.

The standard Hymnal version of the tune is somewhat different than the way it was arranged for the bagpipe in its bagpipe debut on the 1972 album Farewell to the Greys which is still my favourite bagpipe version.

The brass chords are understated and perfect, and there's a lovely French Horn descant (which starts at 1:38)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drti...&start_radio=1

Now there is no tune "Amazing Grace", which is an utterly tuneless set of words.

The tune heard above is called NEW BRITAIN in The Southern Harmony.

Thanks for the history lesson. Unfortunately, at 78, I'll probably forget it quickly. However, with BOTH of my parents' funeral Requiems punctuated by Amazing Grace on the pipes, the bluegrass and banjo setting just doesn't do it for me. The Berlin Tattoo YouTube version is everywhere, of course, and it brings me to tears even 2 and 3 decades after my dad's AND my mom's deaths. The tune matches the text like almost nothing else (the other summits being soprano solos in the final movement of Mahler's gigantic 2nd and 8th symphonies). AND, for lovers of the pipes, there's NO better demonstration of how a brass band can add simply unsurpassable harmony to tune AND text, with a lone or gigantic assembly of pipers carrying the melody.

And, as for the "kilt on backwards" faux pas, my mom went to her grave with her kilt EXACTLY mis aligned like that, and I suspect NO ONE who attended her wake other than my sister recognized the sartorial sin.