No Kilts seen in Scotland!

[PiperPadre]

That's where I'm at. I wear Highland Dress when required, as a piper, but in addition I'll wear Highland Dress when attending Highland Games as a non-competitor.

In this respect I'm out of step with virtually all pipers who, when not competing or judging, wouldn't dream of appearing anywhere in Highland Dress.

When not competing at a Games I'll meet piping buddies and their first question, when seeing me in Highland Dress, is "competing?"

When I say "no" they give me an odd questioning glance. Why on earth would I be kilted then?



I was there almost at the very moment and place of birth.

Utilikilts were invented in 2000 by a guy in Seattle. Shortly afterwards our piping community saw them for our first time, when Utilikilts set up a booth at one of our West Coast Highland Games.

The universal verdict from our piping community was intense dislike. Pipers may hate having to wear Highland Dress at Games, but they take pride in their kit, and turn up their noses at anything other than a traditional wool full-yardage kilt.

"A wrinkly skirt" was the most-heard comment from pipers.

To be fair to the inventor, he's been consistent in saying that Utilikilts are not Highland Dress, and he's refused numerous requests to make them in tartan.

(Soon the Utilikilt idea was copied by numerous firms who dubbed their copies "utility kilts".)

That's been my experience, precisely. I always go kilted (with traditional day wear) to Highland Games and other such piping competitions, whether I'm competing or not. After many piping prohibitive injuries and ensuing surgeries over the years, my piping peers have grown accustomed to seeing me thus clad.

I can't say I ever developed a taste for the utility kilt look or even the great kilt, much less the Renn-Faire schtick. In the midwest where Games often take place midst extremes of heat and humidity,I'll wear my linen/wool blend kilt jacket and waistcoat, and heavier tweeds for cooler climes.

When not at a Highland event, I just wear my black cassock.

[California Highlander]

I would not wear a T shirt, perhaps a normal button up shirt with the top button undone? I cant say that I have ever seen a leather bomber jacket worn with the kilt but, in my imagination I cannot really see it working. You will of course wear what you will and I doubt that most will not even notice, but..........

If you happen to be anywhere near Fort William perhaps we can both hobble down to the nearest pub for a wee dram should I be about?

I agree there Jock. When my American kilted self went to Scotland in 2015 I wore the kilt in Inverness and the highlands. Usually with a tattersall button up, top button open, and a Barbour waxed jacket, kilt hose and brogues. Great walking attire when things go from warm and sunny to wet and grey and back in the same day.

[DCampbell16B]

Also agree here. I do not wear a shirt without a collar when I wear a kilt. I just don't.

[Troglodyte]

Just home from my honeymoon. We went to Shetland, Orkney, along the north coast to Ullapool, then onto Lewis & Harris, N/S Uist, Eriskay, Barra and then onto Skye. The only kilts we saw being worn were tour guides on Skye. I did get a lovely tie in the Eriskay tartan though.

No kilts seen in Scotland, huh..?

Well, I see several every day, here in the old country, when I open the wardrobe and select the necessary for the day ahead.

I sometimes even see one being worn, if I stand and admire my manly figure as it stares back at me from the mirror..!

But I take your point, and understand your disappointment - I had the same experience when I visited the USA.

Picture me, togged-up like a good 'un in my best Wild West duds, from ten-gallon hat to snake-skin boots - and all genuine and modelled on the heros of the Western movies of the '40s and '50s.

Even after two weeks in New York, and venturing way out West as far as Philadelphia to see their famous bell, I didn't come across a single 'genuine' American..! It beats me how a whole population can abandon its culture and heritage in this way.

I did receive some rather forthright comments while riding Uptown on the Subway (a delightful experience I can thoroughly recommend, by the way) which I am still not entirely sure were compiments, and I replied politely in my best Mornigside tones - but the language barrier got in the way here.

So, help me out if you can, where can I find genuine Americans in America dressed like Americans..?

In return, I'll let you know here all the kilted Scots lounge around, waiting to be seen.

[northernsky]

Try Calgary...

[OC Richard]

...where can I find genuine Americans in America dressed like Americans..?

Your post was hilarious! And you perfectly flipped the idioms.

Western Wear (as we call it) is still seen, but generally with ranchers, as one would expect.

And just as someone who doesn't ordinarily wear Highland Dress might wear it to an RSCDS Ball or a Scottish-themed concert, many Americans who don't ordinarily use Western Wear might wear it when going Country Line Dancing or attending a big-name Country Music concert.

When going out for an evening with a sister and her husband we arrived at a bar only to find it was a Country bar. The place was full of Cowboy hats.

My brother-in-law and I looked at each other and said we should have worn our hats. (The point is, most people I know have hats, but they don't generally wear them.)

[Kitfoxdave]

No kilts seen in Scotland, huh..?


So, help me out if you can, where can I find genuine Americans in America dressed like Americans..?

In return, I'll let you know here all the kilted Scots lounge around, waiting to be seen.

To find folks dressed up like Americans (cowboys) in America, you just need to go where there are cowboys.... Many places in Florida have cowboys dressed up in their "duds" for daily work away from the cities... (someone has to FEED all those city folk) On the road just north of me, see them everyday. Hearding cows, planting crops, mending fences... and yes they do ride horses and drive big pickup trucks with stock hauling trailers behind... but these are WORK attire... to see the fancy stuff, just go to the bars in these areas, or rodeos like the Silver Spurs in Kissimmee, FL or many of the others... and this is only Florida...

So now it is your turn to come clean... where do we find "REAL" Scots dressed in kilts CASUAL style working in their kilts... and dressed for an evening in a pub?

You have to be careful when you raise a challenge with 'Mericans....

And by the way, gator skin boots, belts and holsters are probably more popular than snake skin here in Florida, but it is not because of a lack of big enough snakes...

[Kitfoxdave]

Troglodyte, if you want to wear your Western Wear, while riding on horseback, you can do that on the beach at Fredrick Douglass park in Ft. Pierce, FL

[Troglodyte]

I was joking..!

Perhaps my tongue-in-cheek humour is too subtle.

I hoped everyone reading my comment would see the irony immediately, and not as a genuine request for information.

I am delighted you all fell for it, though...

I was trying to show how the lack of Highland dress in Scotland is similar to the lack of Western gear in the USA. Some people wear it on occasion for special events, but very seldom habitually.

Scotland is just like any other European country - desperately trying to modernise itself with multi-lane highways and steel and glass high-rise buildings, and erase its old-world legacy. Most Scots hate the tartan-and-shortbread image Scotland has, and if the jeans, hoodies and baseball-caps outfits that everyone wears (even the police style themselves like American cops, and borrow their styles) is anything to go by, the bulk of Scots relate more to modern North American styles and culture than they do to their own past.

So the lack of Highland dress - even in the Highlands - is to be expected here in Scotland, in the way that clogs and baggy, stripy trousers are seldom seen in Holland, except at folk-costume events.

That's not to say Scots are not proud of their heritage - when they know what it is..!

[Kitfoxdave]

I realized right away that you were joking... no harm, no foul... and I was joking right back at you... the outfit would be a hoot, but not that uncommon in some nearby areas here. (Especially on a Saturday night or Rodeo) I have some good friends near Edinburgh, and love the Scot humor! (When I can understand what is being said)
But if you do fancy a ride on the beach in that get up... you would make many a folk's day!

As to the modernization of such a beautiful country, the old lyric "pave paridise and put up a parking lot" comes to mind...

All the best to you and yours!

Oh, and an historical fact. Alligator wrestling was actually started by cowboys in the south. During drought times, in ordercto make watering hopes safe for livestock, the cowboys would have to catch the alligators and remove them... make sturdy boots!