Kilt Culture

[Chase]

What brought you to kilting?

My uncle was a Drum Major and Piper in the Royal Canadian Army...I ran across some old pictures that peaked my curiosity, but I never had the time or money to invest until a couple of years ago...I bought a Scottish National and wore it backwards without knowing it and put it on the shelf until I ran into a friend of mine in Iraq who helped register a PSD Tartan coined Operation Iraqi Freedom (one of my other projects).

What are the reactions and feelings from your significant others and your families?

My wife loves it, but only in a formal setting...I think she's attracted to the attraction of others? I received a lot of compliments on New Year's Eve last year and she was very happy about that...My mother has expressed an interest and my father is pro-kilt as well...As far as the rest of the world...I haven't expereinced enough negativity to form an opinion on that.

What do you think makes you accepting of kilting, as it is certainly not the norm, nor does everyone accept it?

I hate to say this (lie), but I am one hell-of-a goodlooking guy and wearing a kilt makes me that much better looking...LOL.

Chase

[Rex_Tremende]

What brought you to kilting?

I like nice clothes, but got bored with trousers. Kilts give me more options. The trigger event was that someone suggested I'd look good in one.

What are the reactions and feelings from your significant others and your families?

My family is not part of my life much, so it has not come up. I doubt they would understand so well; Mother, especially. My father has been exploring the family trees and would see the Scottish connections, however. My ex SO would have considered it cross-dressing. My future SO thinks it's great and would like to have one of his own. Some of my friends (the family I choose) have embraced it, but it has alienated me from some others (though this may have less to do with the kilt than my not caring what they think about it).

What do you think makes you accepting of kilting, as it is certainly not the norm, nor does everyone accept it?

I try to live and let live as much as possible. Having grown up with an awareness of what it was to feel like an outsider, I came to understand that to "love your neighbor as yourself," an open mind helped considerably.

Regards,
Rex.

[Coemgen]

What brought you to kilting?
What are the reactions and feelings from your significant others and your families?
What do you think makes you accepting of kilting, as it is certainly not the norm, nor does everyone accept it?

1: I was doing a presentation on Robert Burns for my English class senior year. It needed a visual element. One thing sort of lead to another, and here I am.

2: My dad's OK with it, my brother calls it a skirt (what are siblings for if not annoyance?), my sister appears to ignore it, my grandmother prays each night that I give it up (I am not exaggerating)

3: I have Asperger's syndrome, so by default I don't really care what other people think. It's comfortable, girls like it (not that I'm interested - I'm very happy with my girlfriend), and it's a great conversation starter (of course, with AS, I tend to avoid those).


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Can we tell I'm sick and avoiding homework yet? I'm gonna go find more tea.

Yay! Tea! My favourite is loose-leaf Ear Grey from Twinnings. Mmmm…

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[O'Neille]

The why:
I've had one around for most of my life. When I was in college I blew out my knee playing hockey and ended up wearing my kilt instead of cutting up all my pants to get them over my brace. My wearing increased beyond pubs and gatherings once I discovered xmarks.

My ex is the only one who occasionally asks me why I don't wear pants anymore. My Brother is the only immediate family who likes to yank my chain, but if I didn't wear kilts then he would find something else to tease me about.

I have never had any problems with acceptance either here or while travelling, when all I take along are kilts. When at professional meetings everyone knows me as the kilt guy. I don't think it helps in my profession but It's me and everyone knows it.

[McGurk]

Its something I;ve always liked the look of (even if I have never worn a kilt casualy as day-wear yet). They're unusual, but undeniably manly. When I was younger, I never really fitted in, so I like to think I was differant, and this was one thing that could make me differant. It also tied in with my celtic herritage which has some importance to me.

Hopefully I'll be getting a sporran for christmas, and will start wearing my kilt after that.

[Makeitstop]

The story:
I hate to admit it, but it all started with Braveheart. I love that movie, and when it first came out, it had an effect. When my school had a medieval day thingy I had a scottish guy from my church help me make a cheap and easy kilt like object. I loved it and continued to wear it around the house for months.

fast forward to last year, when I got some plaid fabric and went as an extra from braveheart to a halloween party. It felt so damn good (once I took the shorts off which I had been wearing underneath) that I thought I'd get it sewn into something a little more permanent. I didn't think I'd wear it much in public, but at least at home and with friends. But of course, it never got done, as the whole college thing got in the way.

Then after some rather difficult events made me realize I had lost my balls, one of the less significant things I decided to do was to get some real (as in not crappy homemade imitations) kilts and wear them wherever I want.


The response:
Most of my friends thought I was nuts. Well, to be fair, most of them knew I was nuts long before that, and just thought this was another part of the craziness. A few thought it was cool, several were very much against it, and the rest just didn't get it. By now most everyone has come to accept it, and a few critics have even been dissapointed when I have have worn jeans.

My family is highly factionalized, and up until about 2 weeks ago, only 1 small part of my family had actually seen the kilts. That part (an uncle and his wife and kids) all love it, and I've been trying to convince him to get one of his own.

My mom hasn't seen it but likes it. The one brother who has seen it... well it's not fair to say he doesn't like it because he's a jerk and will be against anything I do (he was pro-kilt until I was wearing one). His girlfriend thinks it's hilarious, and will almost certainly be buying me a swk thrifty for christmas.

The only other family to see them are my grandparents. I wore a kilt to our late thanksgiving, and despite knowing ahead of time that I was into kilts, they didn't take it very well. My grandma never said a word about it, which means she REALLY didn't want to talk about it, and my grandpa wouldn't let it go. He felt the need to ask if I was wearing them in public, to class, to church, if I'd where it to a job interview, and basically lecture me about how I was making an *** of myself. Not only that, but apparently when they talked to my mom, they wouldn't shut up about it and mentioned that someone had to sit me down and explain that I was going to ruin my life. At her request, I will reluctantly wear pants for christmas, so she won't have to put up with them.

The rest of the family as far as I know doesn't know I wear a kilt.

OH, and no significant other at the moment, but the reaction from most of the candidates has been curiosity, followed by amusement, followed by acceptance (with a bit of amusement on the side).


Why me?:
I'm a deep thinker. I tend to view things from a universal perspective, with little regard for culture. As I can find no reasonable objection to kilts (under normal circumstances at least) and I don't care about cultural rules, I am all for them. In fact, I find the distinction between 1 cloth tube and 2 cloth tubes to be so arbitrary that the very notion of denouncing one is simply laughable.

And as I said before, I'm crazy. I have also been known to dress like a ninja, and wear armor. Kilts are rather tame by comparison.

[McG]

"MADE IN SCOTLAND" ... it is ma identity an' ma culture, nae metter whur a am in the world if a hae ma kilt oan, people ken am fae Scotland. Noo a hae read many posts regarding reactions tae the kilt in America an Canada that is never a an issue here, aiways a guid reaction people are broucht up that wai.

[Joel]

What brought you to kilting?

I am of Irish and Scottish heritage. I've always felt closer to that fact than anything else. When little, I loved hearing about how part of my family came from Ireland and the other part of my family came from Scotland (I also remember a time when I was in first grade where one day I spent my recess inside just to study the school's map of the UK). And so, my heritge is a part of me. It is me and makes me who I am.

What are the reactions and feelings from your significant others and your families?

As for family: my brother thinks it's neat, my mother sees it as being okay...however, my father hates it (although, I've converted his brother Mike...he loves it and wants a kilt now). My grandmother, her son and daughter-in-law think it's strange and laugh about it. But yeah...at least I think my friends are starting to accept it...

What do you think makes you accepting of kilting, as it is certainly not the norm, nor does everyone accept it?

I'm almost always accepting of others form of dress because I'm not one to judge others (as long as they dress modestly). But I'm all for individuality. Be who you are and don't care what others think. That's what's important.

And like I mentioned earlier, it's the closeness and high regard that I have to my heritage. Plus, I've always been one who's refused to conform to traditional rules. But, I've wanted a kilt for several years...and not too long ago, I finally got a "starter kilt". And not too long ago, I placed my skills as a part-time garment maker to use made myself a very nice solid black "contemporary/traditional kilt" (doing Medieval, American Civil War, Old West and WWII Re-enacting have all made me learn to sew very well very fast). Plus I'm a poet and poets are to be eccentric.

[ncof300d]

1. For me I never pursued the kilt until I read a post about Utilikilts at an unrelated forum. With all four of my cars being Mercedes diesels I frequent a forum site mercedesshop.com/shopforum for maintenance help. One day in the Open Discussion forum someone started this thread about Utilikilts: http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforu...highlight=kilt

I went to the Utilikilts and read what they had. As a result I was curious about wearing a kilt. As a result I did some searching at some other sites about wearing a kilt. Not certain whether or not I would like wearing a kilt I did not want to spend much on a kilt. I purchased a Stillwater Economy kilt. Ten minutes after wearing it for the first time I asked myself, "why do men wear pants?" It was so much more comfortable than jeans or shorts.

After my mother (who is a genealogy fanatic) saw me wear a kilt she provided me with some information on my father's maternal side. My father's maternal side had linage from the Isle of Mann. This stirred my interest in kilts even more.

2. Today I wear slacks most of the time due to my job. I am hoping that this situation can change. Right now my biggest problem with wearing a kilt is my wife...she hates it and the boys (teenagers) are scared of me wearing a kilt. My best friend and his wife this that it is great and they expect me to wear a kilt when they see me. Paradigms at home are my biggest enemy.

3. Comfort

[string]

I'm geeking out over all the replies, I am such an anthropology nerd.

Oh, and I've been living off of white peony tea that my dear Yeti got me.