Please explain...

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Suppose for a moment that this is a forum about 1957 Chevrolets. Now how much modification does that '57 Chevy require before it ceases to be a '57 Chevy and becomes a hotrod?

I think the same applies to kilts. It would seem to me that the "traditional" kilt is just that-- a kilt. It can be any colour or combinations of colours (tartan) and still be a kilt. Just like "paint colours" don't affect the Chevy being a Chevy. You can put chrome wheels on your Chevy or box pleats on your kilt, and they still aren't radically changed from what they were to begin with. But, it seems to me, if you chop the top on your Chevy, add extra fins and scoops, cover the seat with fake fur, and generally radically alter the original design, well then you have a hotrod based on a 1957 Chevrolet, but it's no longer a '57 Chevy Bel Air two door hardtop.

The same applies to non-traditional kilts. When you take a traditional kilt, chop it, add pockets, change the way it closes, and make it out of some other material, whether it's the latest kind of vinyl or woven sea grass, it really ceases to be a kilt, and becomes something else. In the same way that a 1969 VW modified to resemble a 1952 MGTD isn't a 1952 MGTD (although it has a casual resemblence to the MG) the "contemporary kilt" isn't really a kilt, any more than a terry cloth bath wrap is a kilt. It's a different kind of garment.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the idea of the "contemporay kilt"-- There are probably a lot of places where they would be eminently more suitable than a traditional kilt. Hiking out in the Mojave Desert in August springs to mind. And, because it isn't "really a kilt" the standards of dress that apply to the traditional kilt don't necessarily have to apply to it. Which makes it ideal for the individual who wants to exert his independence from "traditional" society.

None of the foregoing is meant to be disrespectful of hotrodders or aficionados of the "contemporary kilt", nor it it intended to laud the virtues of the traditionalist. Rather, because the "contemporary kilt" is a different sort of garment, I believe it should be seen and respected for what it is, as much as for what it is not.