The Royal Mile

**Lallans** · 30th April 10, 06:09 AM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

No 20 year old worth his salt should conform to anything much, that is true. Many, too many, years ago I well remember causing consternation amongst the senior members of my family by moving my kilt pin from the "mid thigh position" on the kilt, to the lower corner.I still wear it there today, some 50 years later.

What, if any, is the significance of the Rainbow tartan? I seem to have missed something here.

Googling 'rainbow tartan' yields a thread from this site circa 2006, and that seems to be about the only meaningful reference to the subject. Someone posted they'd found info saying it's "A bright and colourful design which has been adopted by the Gay community in Los Angeles." Then the thread got locked pretty quickly and without any more concrete information being brought forward.

**CDNSushi** · 30th April 10, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by Canuck of NI

Googling 'rainbow tartan' yields a thread from this site circa 2006, and that seems to be about the only meaningful reference to the subject. Someone posted they'd found info saying it's "A bright and colourful design which has been adopted by the Gay community in Los Angeles." Then the thread got locked pretty quickly and without any more concrete information being brought forward.

Yes, the thread would be locked -- most likely not because of any ulterior motive, but because the forum started locking old threads to prevent them from zombifying years later.

**Paul Henry** · 30th April 10, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by CDNSushi

Yes, the thread would be locked -- most likely not because of any ulterior motive, but because the forum started locking old threads to prevent them from zombifying years later.

Sadly I think it was locked, IRC ( by MIKE1 ) there was a lot of negative feeling from a few members about the fact that there was a Gay tartan.....

**Bugbear** · 30th April 10, 09:38 AM

Riverkilt has a thread on the Rainbow tartan that is closed because it is well over a year old now.

It was removed from the forum for a short time because someone made a rule breaking comment, then brought back after the comments were removed.

Before that, threads were just closed and moved to the penalty box; it did give the impression that LGBT was a discouraged topic on the forum.

I understand some people will have a negative reaction; I don't know what the solution is, though.

Things aren't like they were when I first joined, LGBT-wise, and that is nice. :d

**Jordan** · 30th April 10, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by McClef

I know that you will be wearing things correctly Jordan!

I was referring rather to the way certain shops will let their clients out in their cheap purchases wearing them the wrong way around.

Trefor you know I jest and I did infact notice one of those certain shops had some kilts on maniquins the wrong way round

**creagdhubh** · 30th April 10, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by Bugbear

Oh, don't worry too much about that tartan, Jock.

It only took me a couple of years, and a few MacMillan of Rathdown posts, to start wearing a blanket pin, then move it from the corner of my apron to the "mid thigh ... Kind of scary, now that I think of it.

Aye, I wear a sterling silver (also have one made of brass) blanket pin made by Hamilton and Inches of Edinburgh, at mid-thigh height. For evening wear I tend to wear a sterling silver kilt pin in the thistle motif with a cairngorm stone (which matches other parts of my evening attire-shoe buckles, sporran cantle, etc) made by H&I of Edinburgh. I also wear a clan crest kilt pin and/or grouse talon, both made by Art Pewter of Kilbride, on occassions. I may look into wearing something larger though, perhaps a brooch of some sort that is around the size of a clansman's cap badge. Any suggestions?

**BoldHighlander** · 30th April 10, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by creagdhubh

Aye, I wear a sterling silver (also have one made of brass) blanket pin made by Hamilton and Inches of Edinburgh, at mid-thigh height. For evening wear I tend to wear a sterling silver kilt pin in the thistle motif with a cairngorm stone (which matches other parts of my evening attire-shoe buckles, sporran cantle, etc) made by H&I of Edinburgh. I also wear a clan crest kilt pin and/or grouse talon, both made by Art Pewter of Kilbride, on occassions. I may look into wearing something larger though, perhaps a brooch of some sort that is around the size of a clansman's cap badge. Any suggestions?

Kyle, check out this thread:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-2010-a-58911/
I have one and its rather nice & about the size of a clan badge

**bchunter** · 30th April 10, 07:55 PM

You know, I rather like the way this thread has wandered around in it's discussion, all of which has some relavance to the original thoughts and context of my opening post. I really don't know where I stand at the moment, regarding the observance of kilts along the Royal Mile. I suppose I set myself up in a way by allowing Princes Street to morph into a holy grail of kiltdom, and was offended and disappointed by both the lack of display of quality kilts and their wear, and the preponderance of touristware. To be sure, there were good shops mixed in, and after a bit it was easy to tell from the street which ones were "authentic". Still, I can see that there is truly a need for a venue for the tourist souveniers. We certainly have our fair share (and maybe then some) of those vendors around this country in any and every locale of historic or natural interest.
So, carry on.