How were you introduced to kiltdom?

[Eujeankilt]

I saw Utilikilts at local festivals shortly after they came out (2000 or so) and secretly lusted after them. Last year, with prompting from my wife, I took the plunge. No turning back now!!

Dale

[Rampant Lion]

From the time I was born my grandparents had a plaque of the Chief of Grant arms (I now know that they should just be showing the crest anyway...) so as a kid I naturually asked what it was and got the answer. Piqued my curiousity, but nothing really came of it. But it was the first time I was told that Grant was a scottish name.

Then, once again while at my grandparents, there was a pipe band in a parade on the TV so I asked why they were all wearing dresses (as a kid I didn't differentiate between skirts/dresses) and was told that they're kilts and they were worn in Scotland. Again my curiousity was piqued, but not for long.

Now I know this might cliche, but I really really got interested in my scottish heritage, not just kilts, after I saw Braveheart. When I started college in Calgary (originally from a small town) I started looking for information about Clan Grant on the internet and found that Grant had it's own tartan and such. After a few months I decided to call one of the local shoppes to see how much a kilt would cost... too much for me at the time so the interest kinda subsided.

I made a group of really good friends a couple years (this would make it about 1998) after being in Calgary and one of them had a kilt and would go to the local Games in Canmore and Calgary. Well after seeing my friend in a kilt and everyone at the games in the kilt I decided that I really wanted to get one, but yet couldn't afford it.

In March of 2000 I accepted a job in San Jose where I was making a lot more money than I ever had. When I knew I could finally afford one I looked for a kiltmaker in the Bay Area. I found the Celtic Craft Centre in San Francisco and on July 21 I got measured for and put a deposit on my kilt (I still have the original reciept). I didn't get it in time for when I flew back home for the Canmore and Calgary highland games (Sept. long weekend), but I wore at Christmas for my grandparents to see.

Anyway, that's my long-winded, probably boring, account of me getting interested in and getting my first (and only so far) kilt.

Will

[freddie]

I've always had a fascination for Highland Dress. As a youngster I marvelled at pipe bands and the Scottish country dancers on T.V's 'The White Heather Club' - especially the host Andy Stewart in his kilts. My Mother, Aunt and Grandmother all used to work in the Borders woolen mills and I grew up with tartan, and have always been keenly interested in the various sets. This led to a fascination with the history of the Scottish clans and families and I used to walk down the street imagining that I was wearing 'The Kilt'. However I'd never thought about getting my own kilt until about 15 years ago when I started going to black tie dinners. I didn't posess any form of evening dress and used to wear a dark grey suit, and one day I was in a bar prior to a function when a cocky character walked in wearing a brightly coloured waistcoat and bow tie . Someone at the bar said "You're looking very colourful tonight" and he glanced at me and said "Yes, I gave up wearing drab clothes a long time ago" I thought to myself "You wouldn't say that if I was wearing full Highland Dress", and resolved myself there and then to get my first outfit (I must point out that this was in England, not Scotland, although my Scottish relatives have said in the past "you're not going to show us up by wearing your kilt are you" !!!!). Like many on this website once I'd worn the kilt I was hooked, and now look for any excuse to wear it. Over the years I've collected various items, jackets, sporrans, sgian dhus and (at present) four kilts in various weights and tartans, and my enthusiasm will never wane.

[Robin]

Like many others...I always liked kilts.

Really stupid it took me over 45 years to figure out it is an option to wear them myself :confused:

[Andrewson]

... I'd never thought about getting my own kilt until about 15 years ago when I started going to black tie dinners.

Seeing that sentence in Freddie's post reminded me that the same issue got me wearing the kilt on more than "Scottish" occasions.

My first kilt was bought over sixteen years ago for Scottish Country Dancing and was worn to Scottish Dances, Highland Balls and (the very rare) wedding. Then, about fifteen years ago, I changed jobs and, like Freddie, had to go to black tie dinners. I'd gone through a 30 odd year career without the need to do this - us computer geeks are not fond of over dressing even when we get together for conference dinners and the like - so I did not own a dinner jacket or tux. It then occurred to me that my Prince Charlie jacket and waistcoat with the kilt would be a much better bet than the drab and drear tux outfits worn by my English colleagues. And how right I was. My English colleagues instantly complained that I was stealing all the female attention. Naturally that just made me even more determined to contiue, and indeed to increase the number of times I wore the kilt.

I have found more and more good reasons to wear the kilt ever since, including almost daily casual kilt wearing through this summer. It is ironic that the most formal of occasions produced this breakthough but I am very grateful that it did.