Highlanders Discuss Highland Attire

[MacLowlife]

One more example of how things used to be better-

Before the Industrial revolution, EVERYBODY got to wear hand loomed cloth, all of the time. And they didn't have all of those processed foods, either.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The rural tradition is still there it just in the last century machinery is now in a countryside where a century ago it was not. Whirling cogs, umpteen horse power and flapping kilts are not a good mixture. Not only that, genuinely homespun cloth no longer exists and has not done for the best part of 150 years for the majority. If a length of cloth was bought at great expense would you go and muck the cows out, or shear the sheep, or gut the fish in your expensive cloth? Would you wear the kilt to do those jobs? Not likely!If you had a choice? Perhaps 400 years ago the kilt may have been standard attire because there was nothing else, I really don't know. Whatever and however that has not been the case since, well I don't know, but how about the middle of the industrial revolution.

Sorry, its time to take off those romantic rose tinted spectacles, I am afraid.

When Richard Ansdell painted his scenes of rural life in the Highlands of Scotland in the middle of the 19th century, the kilt was certainly the norm of country dress. Most he depicted seemed to be of tweed or a rough homespun of some sort, and many were not tartan.

Just to give a few examples.








Anyway, I'm not saying there are not better alternatives for rugged outdoor wear these days, especially with the relative expense of the kilt. However, it is very true that the kilt comes from a rural tradition, and for generations of Highlanders it was their day-in, day-out dress, worn for herding the sheep, tilling the fields, salmon fishing, and all sorts of other activities.

[ThistleDown]

One more example of how things used to be better-

Before the Industrial revolution, EVERYBODY got to wear hand loomed cloth, all of the time. And they didn't have all of those processed foods, either.

Yes, but by the time of the Industrial Revolution the common man in the Highlands had already given up the kilt. The cloth still handloomed was used for voluminous trousers and shirts and jackets made at home.

[ThistleDown]

Matt, I don't think we know that in the Highlands. Anselll's and Landseer's romantic images were just that, surely. My ggg-grandfather was kilted and he had for years a kilted piper in his employ, but there was not another kilted servant or farmworker or shepherd. This isn't a guess on my part; the records are there of the cloth purchased and for what purpose. And that's in Ross-shire, not in Aberdeenshire or Angus.

[Detroitpete]

Thank you all for a greatly informative and enjoyable thread!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Regarding Asndell's paintings, we don't really have any reason to believe that the clothing depicted on his rural subjects was not what he actually saw and had experience of. He summered near Loch Laggan, so I would assume most of his images of Highland life were from around that area.

The top portrait is entitled "Sheep Washing in Glen Lyon."

[ThistleDown]

Yes, I know Matt and he was a superb painter in the genre. We'll have to leave it to Jock to speak about Loch Laggan because that's his turf, but Glen Lyon is not nearby there. You are correct of course. There may well have been countryfolk who wore the kilt at the time he was painting, but these painting didn't depict life as it was. They were just the early days of the romantic myth that's so widely accepted as historical fact here in the 21C.

[SoulFyre777]

Reading this stuff really makes me feel connected to what the kilt was meant to be and how it has evolved... Great read, guys! Keep it up!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Fact remains that there was a time when the kilt was the standard clothing of the Highland male. That meant him doing all sorts of things in the kilt that the Highlander today wouldn't dream of doing. I just used Ansdell's portraits as a visual example of that truth.

There are a few factors to consider. Cheif of which, I believe, is simply the fact that the kilt was basic clothing once upon a time. It had not yet taken on the cultural signifigance that it is given today.

Sure, the kilt was associated with Scotland in much the same was that blue jeans might be associated with America. That doesn't stop me from mowing my lawn, changing the oil in my car, slopping the hogs, or pulling a few trout from the stream wearing my blue jeans. :-) I don't care if they get soiled or torn, or otherwise damaged. Part of it is because they are relatively inexpensive to replace, yes; but the larger part of it is that they are just blue jeans, after all. Nothing special.

This must have been how the Highlander of 200 years ago approached his kilt. It was the clothing he wore. It wasn't as if he had a choice of "do I want to wear my kilt today when I shear the sheep?" He wasn't planning on shearing them in the buff, so of course he had his kilt on! The kilt was his clothing, it was not dear to him the same way the kilt is dear to most of those who wear it today.

I don't just mean "dear" in terms of price. I mean imbued with cultural signifigance. Heritage. Tradition. It means something. One wears the kilt in honor of one's family, clan, country, ethnicity, etc. It is something to be proud of, to take care of, to respect.

It would be as if a retired military officer were to wear his uniform when out mowing the lawn. Sure, it might be a perfectly functional set of clothing to do yard work in. But that particular set of clothing has been instilled with a signifigance that keeps it now reserved and respected.

I would say the same is true of the kilt today. Historically, people did all kinds of rugged, rural and outdoor things in the kilt. It was their day-to-day clothing, after all. Today, people generally do not, as Jock and others have pointed out. Not that there is anything intrinsic in the kilt itself that makes it unsuitable for such persuits. But the kilt has a different place now in the culture and traditions of the Highlands than it did in the past. That's the main point I would make.

[greenman11]

If I could return to Redshank's earlier mentioned list, I believe that a number of members fall into a subcatagory say at 1.5. Some may lean or be moving more towards catagory 1 as I perceive Scot Jock and others may be moving towards catagory 2 say Panache.
What I like about this list is that it gives the opportunity to gather / gleen information and put together a ensemble in confidence and not appear lacking. The reasons why to kilt are as varied as the number of subscribers to Xmarks. Some, like myself have tradition or heritage we are attempting to connect with. At times it is difficult to wade through and pick out the gold nuggets. This thread is one of them. As for me the kilt is not a costume. The kilt is a connection to my past, continuation towards the future. I wear the kilt when I want, when the occasion fits.

Regards,