Putting on a Plaid!

[Jock Scot]

The costume of Outlander is very interesting -- on both sides of the Atlantic. I heard an interview with Terry Dresbach, the costume designer for seasons 1-4 of the show, and I appreciated her explanation of trying to balance historical accuracy with entertainment. A difficult task -- I would be the guy pumping his fist the air supporting historical accuracy.

I think Terry Dresbach was/is a member here and there was sometime ago a very illuminating conversation where she discussed the difficulties and practicalities of coming up with the costumes for Outlander. She openly admitted that many costumes were a conglomeration of artistic licence, judgement and historical facts. For me, who is an openly unenthusiastic viewer/ reader of Outlander, I found her candour about some of the “behind the scenes” thinking, refreshing and interesting.

[Panache]

I like how he mentions how you could use the folds as a cloak hood if it were cold.

It reminds me of being at a small games (Ardenwood maybe?) and the one time I wore a belted plaid to a games.

I got there right when it opened and the weather was unfortunately cold and the sky overcast and dark. There was a poor band scheduled to play right at the opening and I stood before the stage next to another fellow also wearing a belted plaid. We were 2/5 of the audience!

And then it started to rain!

I remembered that you could do the trick of wearing the flaps/folds as a cloak so I unpinned them from the brooch at my shoulder and covered my head. It worked really well! I looked at the other fellow to see if he would do the same and he looked at me sadly and said "Mine's fake and everything is sewn into place" before he walked away to get out of the rain.



I have never felt the urge since then to wear a belted plaid/great kilt to any event other than the Renaissance Faire (where it is obviously several decades out of place) but it is a fun memory.

Cheers

Jamie

[PinellasPaul]

Very good story.

Never go fake, it will show eventually. When it does, it's a reflection upon the wearer.
The easy way is rarely the right way. The right way is rarely the easy way.

[Orvis]

I agree with others here about the demonstrator fellow's weapon handling safety skills - he definitely needs some instruction to improve (I speak as somebody who is 70 and has been shooting since before I was 12), whether he ever handles real ammunition or not. The safety rules are the same regardless. As far as dropping swords and dirks point first into the soil, I learned long ago that it's a good way to get rust (from moist soil) and a permanent dark spot on the blade at the point. Also, when the demonstrator was showing us his plaid (laid out on the ground), it appeared to be a six-yard plaid, which IMHO is about two yards too long. IMHO, those Highlanders on the lower end of the economic scale probably couldn't afford more than a three yard plaid - I recall that the 97th Highland Regiment (in the 1790s) was issuing ORs only three yards of regimental tartan for their little kilts, which was considered perfectly adequate. As for the rest of the demonstrator's kit, well most of us Highland reenactors want the full panoply and dress as the Highland gentry would have had - in my 1745 Jacobite reenacting group, I don't see a lot of men who willingly want to dress as ghillies or poor men so they can show off their kit.

[jthk]

While I freely understand that the belted plaid is a historic garment as opposed to a traditional garment, I do enjoy wearing one from time to time. I have tried various methods of donning and wearing -- the back hanging down, pinned to my shoulder, or tied together with another piece over my shoulder. As a cloak, whatever.

The magic numbers -- for me -- are 13 oz wool, 4 yards of double-wide tartan. I have 16 oz which is fine but a bit too heavy and 10-12 oz wool (fabulous for warm weather) and PV (easy care!). Usually I wear the above-the-belt down, in back, but lately I've been tying the two ends together over my left shoulder. That's very, very handy even though it looks as if I'm wearing a costume. For walking any place with underbrush, it's necessary. For getting the weight off of my back, it's fabulous. With the tartan on my back in that manner, I can put all sorts of relatively light-weight stuff in the back, like a make-shift backpack -- dog leash, gloves, hat, or whatever.

Best wishes.

I like how he mentions how you could use the folds as a cloak hood if it were cold.

It reminds me of being at a small games (Ardenwood maybe?) and the one time I wore a belted plaid to a games.

I got there right when it opened and the weather was unfortunately cold and the sky overcast and dark. There was a poor band scheduled to play right at the opening and I stood before the stage next to another fellow also wearing a belted plaid. We were 2/5 of the audience!

And then it started to rain!

I remembered that you could do the trick of wearing the flaps/folds as a cloak so I unpinned them from the brooch at my shoulder and covered my head. It worked really well! I looked at the other fellow to see if he would do the same and he looked at me sadly and said "Mine's fake and everything is sewn into place" before he walked away to get out of the rain.



I have never felt the urge since then to wear a belted plaid/great kilt to any event other than the Renaissance Faire (where it is obviously several decades out of place) but it is a fun memory.

Cheers

Jamie

[jthk]

Very good story.

Never go fake, it will show eventually. When it does, it's a reflection upon the wearer.
The easy way is rarely the right way. The right way is rarely the easy way.

And if someone wants to make donning the plaid easier, then there's some documentation to suggest that there would've been belt loops/keepers sew into the plaid so that makes putting it on a bit easier.

[Father Bill]

Gosh, we've been hard on this poor guy, haven't we! He was trying to be helpful and we've just about nit-picked him to death.

Poor boogar!

[jthk]

I agree with others here about the demonstrator fellow's weapon handling safety skills - he definitely needs some instruction to improve (I speak as somebody who is 70 and has been shooting since before I was 12), whether he ever handles real ammunition or not. The safety rules are the same regardless. As far as dropping swords and dirks point first into the soil, I learned long ago that it's a good way to get rust (from moist soil) and a permanent dark spot on the blade at the point. Also, when the demonstrator was showing us his plaid (laid out on the ground), it appeared to be a six-yard plaid, which IMHO is about two yards too long. IMHO, those Highlanders on the lower end of the economic scale probably couldn't afford more than a three yard plaid - I recall that the 97th Highland Regiment (in the 1790s) was issuing ORs only three yards of regimental tartan for their little kilts, which was considered perfectly adequate. As for the rest of the demonstrator's kit, well most of us Highland reenactors want the full panoply and dress as the Highland gentry would have had - in my 1745 Jacobite reenacting group, I don't see a lot of men who willingly want to dress as ghillies or poor men so they can show off their kit.

Thanks for sharing! I would be very interested as to what your ordinary Highland man would've been wearing in the 17th and early 18th centuries ... which is one reason why I continue to learn from this forum!

Best wishes.

[jthk]

Gosh, we've been hard on this poor guy, haven't we! He was trying to be helpful and we've just about nit-picked him to death.

Poor boogar!

Agreed!

... Good thing yer man isn't on the forum!

[Steve Ashton]

Thanks for sharing! I would be very interested as to what your ordinary Highland man would've been wearing in the 17th and early 18th centuries ... which is one reason why I continue to learn from this forum!

Best wishes.

You have to remember that from the beginning of the 17th century and the end of the 18th centuries was 200 years. There can not be said to be one common or enduring fashion that would span that entire time. Those 200 years saw as much change in fashion as the last 200 years have.

But if you want to think of the dress of the common man think American Revolution for the 17th century, and Robert Burn and Sir Walter Scott for the 18th century.


Depending on the class, occupation, religion, and specific area, probably something like these -













A kilt in Scotland during those 200 years would be about as rare as a kilt on the streets in Scotland, outside of the tourist areas,are today.