Allowed tartans

[macwilkin]

Apologies if you've seen this before but here is an interesting article which clarifies a few myths about kilt-wearing and tartan entitlement.

http://thecapitalscot.com/pastfeatures/kiltstuf.html

It is only a piece of cloth after all.

Phil,

Agreed, tartan is only a piece of cloth -- but for some, that cloth has personal meaning. Different horses for courses and all that.

Regards,

Todd

[Gaisgeil]

FWIW, I kind of agree with you. The argument that anyone wearing my clan's tartan should be taken as them honoring it just doesn't hold water. Case in point I saw a gent wearing ancient Boyd at a games last year and being so inclined I approached him because I don't see it worn that often. It turned out he wasn't even sure what tartan it was and "just liked the colors" that doesn't seem to honor much of anything to be honest.

Also, whoever is was that brought up Beloit's age, that's poor form and such an easy way out of an argument, discredit by age discrimination. Tsk.

So anyway, while I don't care for the practice personally I can't and wouldn't stop anyone from doing so.

[Phil]

Phil,

Agreed, tartan is only a piece of cloth -- but for some, that cloth has personal meaning. Different horses for courses and all that.

Regards,

Todd

I didn't mean to belittle anybody's feelings of attachment to what they regard as their heritage but to encapsulate all of this in a length of material to the exclusion of others simply on the strength of a name is something I disagree with. How can such exclusivity as posted here come to terms with walking on a carpet in your tartan or sitting on a rug in your tartan? The tartans I wear are Galbraith through family but also Lindsay because I inherited it from my in-laws and know they would be proud I choose to wear it even though I have no claim to any connection with that clan.

[macwilkin]

I didn't mean to belittle anybody's feelings of attachment to what they regard as their heritage but to encapsulate all of this in a length of material to the exclusion of others simply on the strength of a name is something I disagree with. How can such exclusivity as posted here come to terms with walking on a carpet in your tartan or sitting on a rug in your tartan? The tartans I wear are Galbraith through family but also Lindsay because I inherited it from my in-laws and know they would be proud I choose to wear it even though I have no claim to any connection with that clan.

Phil,

I would never tell anyone wearing the Cumming tartan who wasn't a Cumming by "blood, ring or backdoor" that they were wrong in wearing it. That would be rude and ungentlemanly. If someone wants to wear it, then great! I would never dream of excluding anyone.

My point was that personally, I only wear tartans I have some connection to. I can't worry about others wear, only myself. Those are standards I uphold myself to, and myself only.

And I would argue, btw, that you do have a connection to Lindsey through your in-laws.

Regards,

Todd

[majdan]

I still think that it's cool when someone thinks that the tartan that I wear for reasons of my own which have nothing to do with what it looks like are wearing it just because they like the colors. I'm not all that keen on their colors but I'm attached to them for reasons of my own. It is nice that someone, like a couple of members here, like the way that the Montgomery tartan looks. It makes me tend to reassess my rather harsh judgement on how it looks. I wear it anyway as it shows what clan I belong to, just as I'm very proud to wear the light blue Infantry cord on my class A uniform.

[flairball]

I can't believe this argument still goes on. I'm also amazed that there are so many long time members of this board who still whine over others wearing their tartan. There is quite a bit of hypocracy in the kilt world. Everyone should wear a kilt, but it better not be my clan tartan. So, what is it going to be? Are we going to include people, or exclude people?

Here is the way it is; There are no rules governing who can wear what tartan. If the tartan is available from a mill, and delivered to your kilt maker you [B]can[B] wear it. Maybe you wish others wouldn't wear your clan's tartan if they've no connection to it, but they can. So get over it!

[RK-REX]

Here is the way it is; There are no rules governing who can wear what tartan. If the tartan is available from a mill, and delivered to your kilt maker you [B]can[B] wear it. Maybe you wish others wouldn't wear your clan's tartan if they've no connection to it, but they can. So get over it!

[Rampant Lion]

I can't believe this argument still goes on.

I'm not surprised by this at all. It's obviously a topic that people feel strongly about and as new people join this forum the discussion with be renewed again and again.

I'm also amazed that there are so many long time members of this board who still whine over others wearing their tartan.

Whining? Who's whining. I see people stating their opinion. Yes, some people have stated that they don't like it when someone not of their clan is wearing the clan tartan, but my guess is it's because the tartan is a strong symbol to them. Is it really that much different, if different at all, than the people of a nation recoqnizing their flag and feeling strongly about it? Personally I don't think it's all that different. What if another nation starting using the American or Canadian flag as their flag.... and just because they liked the way it looked.

[/B] There is quite a bit of hypocracy in the kilt world. Everyone should wear a kilt, but it better not be my clan tartan. So, what is it going to be? Are we going to include people, or exclude people?

Personally, I don't think everyone should wear a kilt in the sense that I don't really want the kilt to be mainstream. What I would like to see is that those that want to wear a kilt feel comfortable in doing so. But that's my opinion and is completely separate from this thread's topic.

Here is the way it is; There are no rules governing who can wear what tartan. If the tartan is available from a mill, and delivered to your kilt maker you [B]can[B] wear it. Maybe you wish others wouldn't wear your clan's tartan if they've no connection to it, but they can. So get over it!

You're right, there are no rules. But to some there is -the best way I can put it- a sense of traditon that they feel strongly about.

Personally, I would only wear tartans that I have some attachment to. However, I wouldn't tell someone that they couldn't wear any tartan of their chosing. I also wouldn't have a problem with someone not of Clan Grant wearing the tartan even if all that they knew about it was that it was the Grant tartan. I think complete ignorance would upset me a little.

[macwilkin]

I can't believe this argument still goes on. I'm also amazed that there are so many long time members of this board who still whine over others wearing their tartan. There is quite a bit of hypocracy in the kilt world. Everyone should wear a kilt, but it better not be my clan tartan. So, what is it going to be? Are we going to include people, or exclude people?

Here is the way it is; There are no rules governing who can wear what tartan. If the tartan is available from a mill, and delivered to your kilt maker you [B]can[B] wear it. Maybe you wish others wouldn't wear your clan's tartan if they've no connection to it, but they can. So get over it!

Flairball,

Respectfully, but I have not seen anyone making that sort of statement in the most recent posts; I certainly would not dare dream of telling anyone what or what not to wear in terms of tartans; however, I would not, as a personal choice, wear the tartan of a clan that I did not have some association with. That is my right, and I would not dare dream of forcing my views on others, but I will give them when asked.

Regards,

Todd

[RK-REX]

I think a lot of it is just the feeling that one or two individuals implying that they hold themselves to a higher standard because they wouldn't wear a tartan that they are not connected to that make we who have not one drop of Scottish blood in our lineage feel like we should be ashamed to wear anything other then a black Utilikilt. (what a run-on sentence eh? ) I don't think this is intentional in the least. It all goes back to the saying often used around here that one does not need to be a cowboy to wear jeans, boots or a hat, a baseball player to wear a ball cap, nor does one need be Scottish to wear a kilt.


EDIT: Just want it clear that I'm not talking about anyone in this thread, only in general terms.