Kilt Pin or Brooch?

[Peel]

How would one wear a brooch if you weren't wearing a plaid? Would it look out of place on it's own? Where/what would you pin it to?

[mcvarmit]

i quite wearing kilt pins, if the wind wants to blow my apron up, so be it. i'm not shy

semper fi

slick

[Ozman1944]

I wear a brooch as a kilt pin on some kilts and a regular kilt pin on others. I have 'pin' for each of my (28) kilts; that way I don't have to remove them and switch them over.

[JakobT]

I always wear a kilt pin myself. An interesting question is what makes the difference between a pin and a brooch? I have a feeling that it's partly shape, and partly size. Most brooches I've seen are larger than kilt pins and rounder in shape, though I've seen paintings dating back a century and a half or so where very brooch-like kilt pins are worn.

Another thing I've noticed in these paintings is that the kilt pin is normally worn much higher on the apron, about halfway up. Does anyone know the reason for this? It's not only in those old paintings either by the way, I've seen a picture from Prince Charles' and Diana's honeymoon in '81 where he wears a safety-pin type kilt pin in the same place.

[Carolina Kiltman]

The story goes that Victoria, having witnessed such an event, placed a pin on a kilted soldier's apron to preserve his modesty, thereby starting the tradition.

Think about it;
{A} It's a traditional heavyweight military kilt, not some flimsy rag off of EBay,
{B} It has an inner apron. In order for that to have happened, the wind would have to have been blowing in opposite directions at once (blowing the outer apron to the left, and simultaneously the inner apron to the right); an unlikely occurrence which in all my years as a sailor I've never witnessed.
{C} Where was his sporran as all of this was going on?

It's been my experience that if it's windy enough to lift my apron, a 1 oz. kilt pin isn't going to do much to anchor it down anyway (not half as well as a 9 oz. flask of Islay single malt in my sporran). In my opinion it's just a bauble; another bit for the Highland shop to sell to you at an outrageous mark-up.

:buttkick: Hooray! another bit of blarney bites the dust!

[gilmore]

The story goes that Victoria, having witnessed such an event, placed a pin on a kilted soldier's apron to preserve his modesty, thereby starting the tradition.

Think about it;
...
{B} It has an inner apron. In order for that to have happened, the wind would have to have been blowing in opposite directions at once (blowing the outer apron to the left, and simultaneously the inner apron to the right); an unlikely occurrence which in all my years as a sailor I've never witnessed....

You must never have sailed into one of the famous Balmoral tornadoes.

[Nick]

The story goes that Victoria, having witnessed such an event, placed a pin on a kilted soldier's apron to preserve his modesty, thereby starting the tradition.

Also, I don't think Queen Victoria would have actually bent down, grabbed his kilt, and pinned it. It would be neither modest nor decorous.

[Phil]

Kilt pins originally were exactly that. A large, practical, safety-pin type of thing. That was what you wore with your kilt whether you were a man or a woman. Brooches were decorative items, often jewelled, worn by ladies above the waist. Plaid brooches were large, circular items used to fasten a plaid at the shoulder as a practical necessity to stop it slipping off and are an ancient type of brooch, being found in many archaeological sites. As with all things fashions change and variations on the ladies' brooch theme have found their way into kilt-wearing, perhaps due to a declining popularity among women. These have been suitably masculinised into macho swords etc. to preserve the wearer's gender identity although some, such as a recent post about grouse foot brooches are pushing these boundaries even further. What next you might ask?

[Jack Daw]

I don't wear pins and brooches. If I were you, I'd save the money to buy another kilt or sporran.

[mbhandy]

I view the Kilt Pin as just a way for a gentleman to show a little bling.
A chance to wear some jewelry.
Therefore I choose whatever catches my eye or has special meaning to me.

I have pins and The XMark badge. Oh and a Rampart lion.



Heavy Man.

MrBill