Style, Fashion Rules, traditions, Flat caps, and the missing element...

[Friday]

Money is often the canard used by some to say they cannot afford "traditional" clothing. Actually, it is more a matter of priorities.

First I am not sure what a French duck has to do with the situation.
(yes bad joke)

Yes, it is a matter of priorities and based on my personal situation the family first priorities I have make many things out of my reach. I am very handy with needle and thread and would like to modify a thrift store jacket into a kilt jacket, but have not been able to find one in my size. I would like to have a tank in my family tartan but have higher family priorities than what the base cost would be much less the additional cost because of my size. I have been able to purchase a nice semi-traditional USA kilt and have made a couple of others, but to some these are not "traditional".

Maybe I do have the wrong priorities, I don't think so,

[Panache]

... The though of wearing a wool jacket and vest for most of the year brings images of a sauna to mind. I like the look and style of jacket and vest with a kilt, but I would imagine that some would look at a light weight cotton/linen jacket and vest disrespectful to highland customs and traditions. For me it is a fact of reality adapting to the local conditions.

Friday,

Take a look at these two jacket / waist coat combinations







These are cotton twill jackets from Target. They are by the "One Star" brand marketed to young hip people (which is interesting as I am neither young nor hip ).

They are lightweight jackets and good for warm weather. I liked the way they looked and my wife shortened them and added the sporran cutaway and added epaulets.

The vest is corduroy, also from Target and also shorten by my wife.

I make no claim that they are in any way traditional Highland attire.

Now we certainly took a page from the traditional Highland attire to get them the right length and adding the epaulets to the jackets that for some reason just look so right with kilts.

But I think they work and are practical for the weather we have here in California.

Most importantly, they reflect my own kilted style.

Cheers

Jamie

[Friday]

Friday,

Take a look at these two jacket / waist coat combinations







These are cotton twill jackets from Target. They are by the "One Star" brand marketed to young hip people (which is interesting as I am neither young nor hip ).

They are lightweight jackets and good for warm weather. I liked the way they looked and my wife shortened them and added the sporran cutaway and added epaulets.

The vest is corduroy, also from Target and also shorten by my wife.

I make no claim that they are in any way traditional Highland attire.

Now we certainly took a page from the traditional Highland attire to get them the right length and adding the epaulets to the jackets that for some reason just look so right with kilts.

But I think they work and are practical for the weather we have here in California.

Most importantly, they reflect my own kilted style.

Cheers

Jamie

They do look good and it is what I'm talking about. Now, do you thinks your darling and talented wife could sew two jackets together to fit around my one-size never fits frame.

I am working at dropping weight to at most 12 stone 13 from my 20 stone 10. At 12 stone 13 I should be at the top end of Target and WalMart and can begin to work on my wardrobe. I have already dropped 3 stone 8 I just need to get off the work tread mill and back on the one in my room.

Chris

[Friday]

As I stated before, I actually agree with your logic about adopting Highland attire for the climate you find yourself in.

T.

No, No, No, NOOOOOOO, we have to agree to disagree, what fun is a discussion if we both have the same point of view. I have been know to take the change sides of a discussion, from a side I firmly believe in to the "Dark side" just to get some fun in the discussion.

[Jock Scot]

Things that crop up here when I go away,racing, for a few days! Having tried to read through this thread I couldn't help but notice that out of 74 posts there has been contributions from two members from France,One from England, One (two now) from Scotland and one from a Canadian Scot. All the rest are from North America. If one was of a cussed nature, I am not of course, one really could not help but get the feeling that you North Americans invented the kilt and are telling us Scots and the rest of the world how to wear our national dress. Of course you are not. Are you?

[Panache]

Things that crop up here when I go away,racing, for a few days! Having tried to read through this thread I couldn't help but notice that out of 74 posts there has been contributions from two members from France,One from England, One (two now) from Scotland and one from a Canadian Scot. All the rest are from North America. If one was of a cussed nature, I am not of course, one really could not help but get the feeling that you North Americans invented the kilt and are telling us Scots and the rest of the world how to wear our national dress. Of course you are not. Are you?

Jock,

You need to go out and get some more Scots to join XMTS immediately!

ith:

Cheers

Jamie

[O'Callaghan]

I'm assuming that by "buckle" here you mean the leather straps and buckles used to hold the kilt on. I clarify because the belt, too, of course has a buckle.

So assuming I am reading you correctly, you suggest that the leather straps and buckles were the way kilts were held on in the 19th century and so therefore now considered "proper" by traditionalists.

This is not really historically accurate, however. I have examimes nineteenth century kilts that have been closed with buttons, tied with ribbons, fastened with cloth straps and buckles (not leather), or more often than not, held on with nothing at all but the waist belt, or sprung steel pins.

So your premise that straps and buckles were standard in the nineteenth century, and therefore the only thing considered "proper" by today's traditionalists, is not accurate. Nor, I would argue, is your premise that nineteenth century fashion is the standard that traditionalists still hold for Highland dress.

I think that we can certainly take a good deal of inspiration from the nineteenth century, as many of the elements of Highland attire have roots in that era. But Highland fashion is a living fashion, and it is continually evolving -- even among those who consider themselves "traditionalist." I'd actually argue that the traditional idea of "proper Highland attire" really draws more inspiration from the early and middle twentieth century than the nineteenth. But my main point here is that Highland dress is a contemporary, living fashion, a true National Dress, and not an attempt at period costume limited to any one era.

Clearly my chronology is out by quite a bit. Thanks for pointing that out. Actually, I was just looking at another thread with victorian pictures of highlanders, and in those pictures the jackets mostly looked like doublets in a faux military style, such as only pipe bands now wear, or else some were argylls, and not one PC jacket, and all the shoes were buckle brogues of the type with a large buckle on the front, and not one pair of ghillie brogues. This also tends to support what you said about the 'traditional' style being early 20th century and not 19th.

Do you not think though, that wearing a supernumerary belt with a kilt that is already supported by straps probably started as an attempt to get the look of an older kilt that was held up by a belt, and continues because people think it's the thing to do, without conscious thought?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Do you not think though, that wearing a supernumerary belt with a kilt that is already supported by straps probably started as an attempt to get the look of an older kilt that was held up by a belt, and continues because people think it's the thing to do, without conscious thought?

Well, if you are asking whether the wide waste belt continues to be worn for fashion even though it really doesn't have a function, I'd agree with you and say yes. Keep in mind, though, that for a lot of us, the belts we wear with our trousers fit the same description. My pants stay on just fine without a belt, but I usually wear one anyway, for purposes of fashion, not function.

Since I wear my kilt belt for fashion, too, you'll find that I wear it sometimes and don't wear it at others, depending on what kind of look I'm going for that day. Since it's not needed to keep my kilt on, I'm free to wear it or not based on what I think is going to be the best look for that outfit.