Evolution of a Kiltie - Changing Tastes

[Riverkilt]

No one asked. And I don't know if this means anything to anyone but me - but I found myself looking back over how my tastes in kilts have changed.

I started out with no interest in kilts until I was 59. Despite being of strong Scottish heritage, owning a lot of books about Scotland, subscribing to magazines about Scotland, and going to Highland Games. I still had no interest in kilts. I was one of those guys wearing pants to the Highland Games.

In the early Spring of 2004 I spotted my first Utilikilt Workman's at the Arizona Ren Faire and was hooked. I was 59 and still pretty active hiking the canyonlands. I bought a LOT of solid color and camo kilts. Utilikilts, Freedom Kilts and Pittsburgh Kilts. The only tartan kilts I had were a couple of SportKilts.

But somewhere along there I ordered up my first hand sewn wool kilt in a clan tartan. Then I finally decided that all the hype about USA Kilts might be valid and I ordered my first tartan USA Kilt.

For sure I was on one Hell of an addictive run. Love the comfort and freedom of kilting. After aging and fattening up I've been selling off the kilts that no longer fit me and reinvesting the proceeds in kilts that do fit me.

But today, my choice seems to be for tartan kilts where the tartan has a meaning for me such as one of my clan tartans, a district tartan (including X Marks), and military tartans.

I still have a solid color saffron USA Kilts semi-trad - which is a district "tartan" in a way, and a dress model maroon Freedom Kilts which is a color I like, wear to work, and is cut in a traditional kilt look.

And then there are the solid color leather kilts. While leather kilts are expensive they are also bulletproof and great in foul weather or for a jaunty look. Have the UK brown leather and the RKilts saffron leather with an eggplant RKilt at the top of my wish list. But I buy the leather more for the use and look of the leather than the color of the leather. Both the brown and saffron "look" like leather.

I have not had the urge to replace any of my outgrown Utilikilts. That seems to me to have more to do with my age than anything else. Also, after working out the freedom to wear kilts at work I don't want to appear too casual at work.

And, for those of you with wives and girlfriends concerned about the cost of kilts you can tell them with assurance that the value of kilts endures. Thanks to this board I've been able to get my outgrown kilts and changed my mind about the tartan kilts out of the closet and back into circulation while giving another kiltie my size a bargain with limited jonesing. A real win-win situation. No way that's gonna happen with pants.

Guess the point of this post is to reassure/remind guys catching the kilt fever and slipping into gutter kilt addiction that its okay...as you learn more, change sizes, change tastes, its possible to make the changes you want to without much hassle, get fair value for the kilts you pass on, and reinvest in the kilts you want now.

Hope that all makes some kinda sense.

Ron

[Arizona Scot]

Ron all of that makes perfect sense, I am right now only at the beginning of my addiction to the kilt. I own two both in tartan and both to clans that I have an affiliation to. I don't see myself owning a non tartan kilt, but I also reserve the right to change my mind. As I grow older I have noticed my taste changing, 5-6 years ago you wouldn't have seen me with out my stetson on my head now I rarely wear it unless going to a rodeo or out to dance with my wife. I am very interested in seeing where my taste lie in another 5-6 yrs.

[Draelore]

int:

For someone who is waiting impatiently for his 2nd kilt, while eying the edge of the kilting precipice your post really hit the spot Riverkilt!

Andy

[Standard]

Amazing how our tastes change as we age. The fact however that the kilts you chose to sell off were able to hold their value and are being put to good use by someone else speaks to the longevity of the kilt both as a valid garmet, and in the quality of workmanship that went into making it. Too many things these days are from the 'throw-away single-use' mentality that it is nice to see something of quality that will outlast the user.

[Kiltman]

Ditto. At 61 I've gone through a similar evolution. I really do prefer tartan kilts, either box or knife; but I still have two UKs that I wear from time to time.

[Bugbear]

I've found that I feel better wearing tartan a little less casually than non-tartan kilts. Woll seems more comfortable as the dressier choice. Not that I'm that dressy... Although, the solid color wool kilts dress up quite well.
I've given up on trying to have a family connection to every tartan I wear, and go for the fashion tartans and the half set tartans. That way I don't have to worry about those things. I'll probably get a Gray Granite semitrad USAK at some point for that reason.

[Nick the DSM]

well, you started at 51 and i started at...13?, i'm 15 now. so you've got a head start in your ways of style and taste. i still have a chance to change my style as well.

when i first saw the title i thought it was actually about the evolution of a kiltie dating back to the 17 th century to now.

[Hamish]

Well said, Ron.

I guess I have been through a similar form of development, although I was wearing tartan kilts for 47 years before I discovered those wonderful Howie's TFCKs and Steven's Utilikilts around 1999/2000. What a refreshing breeze both those guys brought to kiltdom! Now, when I consider how many makers of superb modern/alternative/contemporary kilts there are out there, I feel a tremendous pride in the fact that I may have had some small influence in the promotion of those alternatives. The growth in their popularity would have happened anyway of course, but I was probably Utilikilts first customer in the United Kingdom and I was certainly their first Utilikltarian of the Month! (There are now 14 Utilikilts hanging on my garment rails). Similarly, Howie tells everyone that it was due to my example that he now wears kilts all day, every day, and has been doing so for some six years. (There are 18 TFCKs - and 9 Geoffrey (Tailor) kilts in The Kilt Kollection).

Like you, it may be 'an age thing' but I have tended to order mainly tartan and tweed kilts (Oh, and leather beauties!) in the last few years, not because I no longer like the trendier styles and fabrics but because I just feel they suit me better now that I am that much older.

I am sorry to say this, but the 'evolution' we are experiencing is, I am sure, all down to the ageing process. Do we have any regrets? I don't, not really, apart from not becoming aware of the joys of daily kilting until I was in my 60s. To think I was wearing the kilt exclusively as a National Costume for 47 years before I came to my senses. What a waste of time!!!

Take care,
Ham.

[ChattanCat]

Great retrospective. I started my kilting experience at 49. I am now 50 and have made all of my own kilts except the first one (I call it the acrylic beast). The only kilt that I made that I don't love entirely (except my first practice kilt) is the last kilt I made from black crepe material. So, I am not ready to recycle any kilts. I do look forward to the day that I may, as you have, to recycle a kilt.

[Rex_Tremende]

Well, I guess I'd have to say my tastes have changed too, but it's not an age thing. Like Ron, Utilikilts were the gateway garment. I bought a couple to find out what it would be like to wear a kilt - and I enjoyed it very much. Not quite ready to take the plunge into buying a tank, I experimented with other styles (Freedom Kilt, NeoKilt, SportKilt, Stillwater, USA), and second-hand tanks. Then I got my first Tewksbury, and I was smitten. What changed was my desire for quantity (reduced), not my appreciation for alternatives - so I mean to say that I would still buy a casual or contemporary kilt on impluse (if the deal and mood are right), but now my focus is on saving up for the tartan tanks, so I'm less susceptible to whims.

Regards,
Rex.