Why traditional?

[IsaacW]

Many comments and discussions that I have read here over the last few weeks have been sitting upon my brain. Ultimately it comes back to why I choose to "kilt up" in a more traditional way. I think I have most of my thoughts together and would like to attempt to get them out in, hopefully, an understandable fashion.

1.) First, to me traditional is not historic. I have heard a lot of comments that folks dressing in "THCD" are trying to emulate those in photos of the 1920s. While many kilt wearers of the 1920s do look like this, I would say that many kilt wearers are also dressing like this in Scotland today. This is the thing about "National Dress" and "folk costume." Elements of historic dress are somewhat freeze framed, embellished, romanticized, etc. and become this attire. This can be seen in the "national/traditional" clothing of many countries (maybe I need to wear my lederhosen and trachten apparel tonight ;-) ). Elements also change over time, but do not necessarily follow the changes in fashion. While many wear kilts simply as another lower-body garment, I wear it with thoughts toward the history and symbolism of the garment and its connection to Scotland. Tradition is simply pulling elements of the past forward in continuity.

2.) This leads to the idea that traditional dress is "too dressy." I think this is a misunderstanding and as other "THCD" posts show; shirtsleeves, no tie, jumpers, and a more casual look CAN be "traditional." Also, as earlier mentioned, these fashions do originate in a time period that was a bit more "dressy" than our casual society today. Beyond that, I personally tend to dress up more than my peers on a daily basis. For work, I wear a tie 5 days of the week. When out and about, I would rather dress more than not. This is just my preference (and for work, my opinion that if you want to be treated as a professional, you must dress as one).

3.) I hear that if dressing "traditional" I am trying to emulate a laird. Perhaps this is so. Looking at fashion history, it is normally the aristocracy and the elite that influence the bulk of fashion. If one wears anything fashionable, they are likely emulating the elite. Even in the United States this is the case. While most Americans like to think we have no aristocracy and that we are all individuals, free upon ourselves; the reality is that most people's fashion is set and influenced by the Entertainment Industry, the Fashion Industry elite, Athletes, and a variety of other "famous" people.

4.) Finally, to a great degree... my highland apparel is just a kilted reflection of my normal attire. Many folks that do not understand "traditional" highland attire, simply state that you should wear the kilt as you do pants. In many ways, this is what I do. Although wearing the kilt means many things to me (some alluded to above and hence why I wear a kilt instead of pants); I tend to dress a lot like this in common attire/Saxon dress. My favorite jacket is a Harris Tweed that a friend of my grandfather gave me when I was 18 (I am wearing it today, 20 years later). I have a number of other jackets much like this. I wear ties all week. When I wear a shirt and tie, I prefer to have a waistcoat or jumper on as well (just my aesthetics). I like wearing brogues and often wear striped or argyle socks. These are the looks that I tend to enjoy and are my personal likes. I also think they are rather "classic" and need not be changed every year or so to follow the fickleness of fashion. Here are a few images I found in the computer of me at work over the past year or so...