Traditional female wear????

[Phil]

Well for one I will not be leaving anytime soon, also I find your comments offensive.

What I mean in my initial is that traditionally NO women DO not wear kilts, but I would purchasing one anyway and wearing it. With the understanding that this was not anywhere near traditional.

I also would love in edition to my own kilt in the Fraser tartan a more traditional female attire.

I am glad that you also found the type of comments I have experienced to be offensive and, from your reaction, you too have encountered a similar type of gender stereotyping as your statement that "NO women DO not wear kilts" clearly demonstrates. My lifetime's experience here in Scotland is diametrically opposed to that you have encountered in your country - namely that here women (and girls) definitely DO wear kilts, always have and probably always will.

[JonathanB]

Generally, though, women have no need to wear a sporran, and may safely dispense with that item (when not in a band).Regards,

Confused. Don't they need hankie, small change, house keys, phone etc same as blokes?

[neloon]

A' Sheasaidh,
"not anywhere near traditional."
Depends how you define "traditional". Ladies have worn kilts for getting on for 100 years. That's longer than they have worn tartan trousers! Certainly a lot longer than "muted/reproduction/weathered" and "dancing" tartans have been in existence. In my young day there was still a notion that a lady's kilt should "fasten" on the left but that idea has long since gone.
So, enjoy your Fraser tartan kilt when you get it.
Alan

[Jock Scot]

Now I am starting to wonder here and as a mere male I am having to be careful here, but------.

So baring in mind my accumulated and admittedly meagre knowledge of female attire gathered over a fairly long life and in consultation with Mrs Jock and a couple of her friends sat around the breakfast table at this very moment the consensus is:-

That unless women are playing in a pipe band, women do not wear kilts. However they do wear tartan skirts in various lengths with pleats in and yes school uniform can require females to wear kilted(I am assuming they are talking pleats here?------yes they are) tartan skirts.

Just asked another question to the committee. What about women wearing a mans kilt?

After gales of laughter and comments like man's kilts would go round us six times! The answer was; "If we wanted to, we would, but they(mans kilt) are not cut to fit the female shape and they are so heavy."

Just saying.

[Phil]

That unless women are playing in a pipe band, women do not wear kilts. However they do wear tartan skirts in various lengths with pleats in and yes school uniform can require females to wear kilted(I am assuming they are talking pleats here?------yes they are) tartan skirts.

Yes, Jock, we 'mere males' must be extremely circumspect when discussing female attire. I am unsure of the distinction between a man's kilt and what would perhaps be described as a 'kilted skirt' of the type you mention. Perhaps there is less material, perhaps they are not so greatly tailored, more just a wrap-around bit of tartan. However they are described, though, they consist of an unbifurcated (always used to be unbifurbricated in a description somewhere here), roughly knee-length, pleated garment made from tartan cloth. That sounds suspiciously like a kilt to me. If it barks like a dog as they say.... I shall, however, refrain from approaching any of the cohorts of tartan-clad schoolgirls with a question about what they consider themselves to be wearing, unless, of course, I intend to spend a little time as a guest of Her Majesty.

[neloon]

Jock/Phil,
For the avoidance of doubt, I repeat what I said in post #5:-
"at my daughter's school in Aberdeen, all the girls wear (proper) kilts throughout the winter months in their own tartans - very colourful"
i.e. NOT kilted skirts, no less material - just (expensive) "TCHD" kilts and the girls are very proud of their uniform with its element of personal choice. This has been the uniform for at least 70 years and provides plenty of work for local kiltmakers. The boys are, of course, entitled to wear the kilt also but not many do.
(In Summer, the girls wear a lightweight "kilted skirt" - definitely quite different.)
Alan
P.S. Managed to find a photo from a year or two back that seems to be in the public domain - posed with the Aberdeen Lord Provost
http://www.albynschool.co.uk/wp-cont...1/DSC08848.jpg

[tulloch]

My mother wore a pair of trousers once, a long time ago at a summer camp. Today the wearing of blue jeans - a man's outfit from the 19th century - by girls of all ages is ubiquitous. Kilts for girls? I vote fine.

[Domehead]

May I ask a question of distinction based on construction?
I ask because Jock's experience dictates one perspective and Phil's another.
As an American, I can only comment on my experience with the family in which I was raised. But some of the terminology intrigues me.
However, I don't want to marginalize anyone while trying to nail down a "garment" based on construction.

[Father Bill]

What a sad way to have a newbie received into this forum. I'm glad that some plain and unvarnished information has been added to what sounded, for a while there, like angry criticism.

I'm disappointed.

[Domehead]

Here goes...
What is the difference between a "pleated skirt", "kilted skirt" and a "kilt"?

I thought I knew. Now, I'm not sure.
My Grandma's Arisaid (Traditional Highland Dancing) was worn at kilt height, but pleated all-around.
The Country Dancing "skirt" (pictured) is also pleated all-around, but clearly below the knee. It is knife-pleated, but appx. 2 1/4" wide & deep pleats w/ appx 8" fell all-around. Left-hand zipper up and twin clasp closure.

I assumed a "kilt" required an apron front. Anything else was a derivation an a skirt, for terminology sake. I think I am wrong.