kilts in Edinburgh

[Phil]

I will make an effort to wear a kilt whenever I can but I know the majority of fellow Edinburghers (if that's what you call them) will continue as they are, wearing trousers/pants(pardon the offensive language here) if for no other reason than their place of work will require them to. They all have dress codes and while it may feel good to rebel it doesn't usually enhance your promotion prospects. Yes there is prejudice against kilts in many workplaces even here in Scotland in the same way there is against jeans and trainers too. We live in a society where one is very much judged on appearances still. I have now reached an age where I can proffer two fingers to such constraints whether that is fortunate or not I don't know but I do know there are many reasons preventing younger people wearing kilts on a day to day basis from peer pressure through to financial and career pressures.
Remember too that kilt-wearing was never the norm in Edinburgh or other large towns and at one time kilt wearing highlanders (teuchters) were regarded as country bumpkins and not to be emulated by polite society. Glasgow was more exposed to highlanders migrating to the city but even they quickly lost the kilt habit once there. Nowadays it has become popular and regarded as a symbol of national patriotism.

[McClef]

Of course there are many work situations which prohibit kilt wearing and that's far from unique to Edinburgh or even to Scotland.

But like all towns and cities there are many people not at work at any given time and they are in any case free to decide what they wish to wear in their leisure hours. The trends and fashions they then adopt cannot be put down to work however but factors such as peer pressure then come into play, especially amongst the young. One can see the same "uniform" all over.

Yes indeed kilt wearing was viewed by Lowlanders as a Highland thing and the prohibition of the kilt touched them little if at all. That didn't begin to change until the visit of George IV to Edinburgh when he set the fashion by wearing a kilt (albeit with flesh coloured stockings) and later by Queen Victoria's espousal of things tartan. But it still wasn't seen as everyday attire and still isn't whether it's in Inverness or Dumfries (with honourable exceptions of course!)

So changing the culture a little on that point is I agree, a challenge. Hopefully where Edinburgh leads the rest of Scotland might follow.