why do they make kilts?

[Hamish]

aye ya will...

ai serve breccy in mine e'ery morni'...

An ai'll be arrivin' wearin' ain! (Ai'm nae draivin' 420 miles sittin' oan ma best pleats!!)

[thescot]

Dang, Wiz. that was so eloquent, I think I'm in love.

Thanks for a very nice answer to The Question.

Makes me want to buy that sewing machine and take on making a kilt.

[Jimmy the Celt]

It would be fantastic to see kilts carried by retailers--the downside being, of course, that they may very well become extremely commonplace and not so unique. The upside, however, is that it will be more commonplace, and thus less attention-getting.

I wear the kilt for my own reasons, and I realize that wearing a kilt attracts a certain amount of attention one would normally not have wearing trousers, but I wish it didn't attract quite so much attention. I love being complimented, but it does get rather tiresome answering the Question--it's fun for a while, every now and again . . . but when will people grow up?

[Rigged]

For most people, the kilt is still a special-event garment -- a costume. Tartan kilts for weddings and funerals, Utilikilts for Burning Man and Rennaisance Faires. Only a few of us have the interest or courage to wear them outside of "acceptable" venues.

Wearing kilts all the time when there is no social or mass-media support for it can indeed label us as eccentrics in our own neighborhoods. I'm certainly known as "That kilt guy" in mine.

And as much as many of us keep hoping for some kind of media breakthough (like Mary Tyler-Moore insisting on wearing pants on tv on "The Dick Van-Dyke Show in the 1970s), it's unlikely that the mainstream press is going to "educate" the masses on behalf of men who wear "skirts".

For the foreseable future, gents, I fear we're on our own.

[Dreadbelly]

Wearing kilts all the time when there is no social or mass-media support for it can indeed label us as eccentrics in our own neighborhoods. I'm certainly known as "That kilt guy" in mine.

I get called that too. I am also called "The Tartanic" by a few funny souls.

I could think of worse things to be called than "The kilted guy."

[macwilkin]

For most people, the kilt is still a special-event garment -- a costume. Tartan kilts for weddings and funerals, Utilikilts for Burning Man and Rennaisance Faires. Only a few of us have the interest or courage to wear them outside of "acceptable" venues.

I'm not sure I like this accusation, that somehow I am a "coward" for only wearing my kilt for special events, such as weddings (like my own), Scottish functions, etc. Where and when I wear my kilt is my business; I do not judge others on when and where they wear theirs either.

If wearing the kilt is truly about "freedom", as we hear so much around here, then that "freedom" should have no limitations -- including those who do not wear their kilts on a regular basis. Many cannot due to work. Others choose not to for their own personal reasons -- but why is their not wearing a kilt outside "acceptable" venues the sole determination of their "courage" to wear a kilt?

Regards,

Todd

[Dreadbelly]

I can see Todd's point of view and I can see Rigged and where he sits as well. One is a militant point of view, the other is a point of view based on culture and refinement.

Somewhere in the middle of those two camps is wisdom.

[Belegnole]

Todd, did you get up on the wrong side of the bed?

why take offense at the statement that people wearing the kilt outside of costumed events is courageous. It is...In this day and age it is courageous to even mention that you wear a kilt...

[gilmore]

Hamish,

If you want to see kilts in the US on the hoof, you must go to the watering holes where the wearers gather: the clubs, the trance-house-goth-punk clubs.

[Erisianmonkey]

Only a few of us have the interest or courage to wear them outside of "acceptable" venues.

(emphasis mine)

I'm not sure I like this accusation, that somehow I am a "coward" for only wearing my kilt for special events, such as weddings (like my own), Scottish functions, etc. Where and when I wear my kilt is my business; I do not judge others on when and where they wear theirs either.

If you don't have the interest, then the statement about courage would not apply-that is, if you had an interest in wearing the kilt outside of those venues but did not do so, then it might apply. I really don't think Rigged was making an attack on anybody, just pointing out that it does take courage to wear the kilt in everyday situations, given that there are some intolerant people out there.