Kilt Culture

[sharpdressedscot]

1)What brought you to kilting? I'm of Irish and Scottich descent.

2)What are the reactions and feelings from your significant others and your families? Actually, I think only my grandparents and my dad know of it. The others don't know I wear one(not yet atleast). My grandparents think it's pretty cool. My dad on the other hand....

3)What do you think makes you accepting of kilting, as it is certainly not the norm, nor does everyone accept it? I'm proud of my ancestry, one of my motttos is: You are what you are, be proud. I guess it also states that I want to be different, not calling for attention different, but I don't want to be a normal teen.

[cessna152towser]

What brought you to kilting?

Wouldn't have been seen dead in a kilt when I was younger and stubbornly refused to wear one. Wife knew several men who regularly wore kilts through her interests in hiking and Scottish Country Dancing and eventually persuaded me to get my first kilt a few years after we married. Still only wore it as costume for weddings and dancing etc. until I had a leg injury five years ago and could not get into trousers so wore the kilt to work. It was so well received by colleagues and customers and so comfortable
that I began to wear kilts regularly. Now that I wear a kilt almost daily I have gradually expanded my clothing choice away from traditional wool kilts into non-trad styles.

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

Wife encouraged me to get my first kilt and supports the idea I should wear kilts every day as she says I suit them. Other family have been favourable, including daughter from previous marriage who is a goth and regards my black kilts as "cool".

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

A recent English television poll, prompted by the soap Hollyoaks in which one of the male characters regualrly wears skirts, showed that only 5% still regard the idea of men in skirts as weird. Since 95% of the population accept men in skirts I'd have thought even more than that would accept kilts, and if there are still a very few people out there who find the idea of men in kilts a bit weird then that is their own problem. Twenty years ago I'd have found it difficult to accept if my wife wore trousers as she always wore skirts. In those days I wore the trousers. Styles change. Now she wears trousers full time as do most women. A man in a kilt or skirt is no longer seen by me as trying to dress girlish, but as a man bold enough to regain the centuries old tradition of wearing unbifurcated clothing, now that skirts are no longer routinely worn by ladies as they were for much of the 20th century.

[rollerboy_1979]

What brought you to kilting?

My late wife and I were driving through the Highlands of Scotland in the mid-80's and just happened upon the Braemar Gathering of The Clans near Balmoral Castle. The Royal Family was in attendance and the grandueur of the festival blew me away. After seeing all the people dressed in their clan tartans, and seeing those tough guys competing kilted in the games, made me want to have one. For years I told my wife that I wanted to get one because I love the look, but the expense kept me from doing so. I lost her in July of '06, and about a year later, I decided to order my first kilt. It has helped me transition to a life without her........I'm not there yet but making some progress.

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

My family is 2K miles away so they don't see me wearing it, but when I mention that I will be, there's usually a nervous giggle on the other end of the phone (they know I've always been a free spirit, so they aren't surprised). Friends have become accepting because they know I'll wear it whether they like it or not (again, nervous giggles and nothing more is said)!

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

It is a legitimate article of men's clothing that has been worn for centuries and there is nothing unflattering about it. It's like a tuxedo....every man looks good in one. It certainly appeals to the ladies, and that's alright with me!

[Bugbear]

Hi String, I wanted to add to my answer about what brought me to kilt wearing. I've pinned it down to going to an SCA event with a close friend. She let me have a tunic like costoom. At some point she suggested trying a kilt because I enjoyed the tunic but medieval tunics don't work for wearing now a days. I'm open to all kinds of other legless clothing, but the kilt seems to be more accepted right now.

[JRB]

I got into kilts because of my Scottish heritage like many other folks on this forum. My grandfather on my fathers side is Scottish and I always took great pride in that. I purchased my first kilt in 1998 for my wedding. An event like my marriage was the only way I could justify spending $600 on an article of clothing at the time.

My significant other (wife) and my entire family loves my kilts and has been nothing but encouraging. My Scottish grandfather cried the first time he saw me in my kilt and told me that his father used to wear a kilt on occasion. I've never heard anything negative from anyone close to me about my kilts.

I'm accepting of kilt wearing simply because it's been a traditional mans garment for several hundred years and continues to be considered so. Sure there are those closed minded or ignorant people out there who don't approve, but I can't be bothered to let them influence my life.

[Gryphon noir]

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[Gryphon noir]

There have been a number of factors behind my increasingly kilted behaviour. The last member of the family to be reglarly kilted was my great uncle, a career military man in two world wars as a member of the 48th Highlanders. We never met, but family members say the resemblence was striking--there was an attempt to locate one of his kilts, but he was likely buried in his regimentals. His other kilt (s?) was described to me as 'green' which helped me to deduce which tartan was traditionally worn in the family.
I have had an interest in history as far back as I can remember, but only discovered my Scottish roots in the last 20 years. Any personal expression of this was rather suppressed during my marriage, but as soon thereafter as I had the wherewithall to do so, my first present to myself was a kilt. It made a bit of a splash at my son's graduation, and I haven't looked back since.
I've appeared kilted at English Country Balls, and increasingly at social functions. On St. Andrews Day I attended a Christmas party put on by my colleges at work. Frankly, it is a bit of a trip to be called "hot" by three women 20 years my junior! Need I say more? My partner is just loving it!

[string]

Sir Robert, Your avatar makes me happy I took Latin in high school.

[Riverkilt]

Hey String, hope you're feeling better by now.

I'm weird...have been around things Scottish all my life, highland games, pipers, my grandfather Murdoch's stories, and books of tartans. But, I never once considered a kilt for "myself" until I was at a Ren Faire and saw a guy in a Utilikilt. No clue why, I just had to have one. Looked them up on the Net and ordered. So I guess it was "Scottish Jeans" that did the trick for me. Go figure...now I like tartan kilts...lots of them!

Being a single old geezer living in a bear cave and between women when I took up with kilts there wasn't an issue with a significant other. The usual mixed reactions from the rest of the world. My current lady has only known me as a kiltie and she's obviously okay with it but says she likes my "butt" better in pants....talk about make an olde guy proud...but that's not enough to forsake the freedom and comfort of klts.

I used to be a shy kid...somewhere along the line working in the mines, the USMC, law enforcement, corporate sales, and lots of booze took care of that. Now, I really don't care what others think of me. I wanna live my life the way I want to in the years left. We're a long time dead and I enjoy enjoying life. Kilts help me do that.

And for me its pure joy how kilts cut across culture and the generations.

I only wish I'd discovered kilts before going back to college...those classes would have been soooo much more comfortable to sit through. Nine years of sitting at night to finish the BA and Masters.

Ron

[Sir Robert]

Typically mottos are in French. In high French mine means "Your Mother!" Fighting words more less. Only an Englishman would have a motto in Latin. The English look back fondly at a time when Caesar's protected his peasants. My pictish ancestors frightened Caesar. My people were never conquered and Scotland never pacified until the clearances emptied the highlands.