Poking fun at men in kilts.

[Robinhood]

I've seen in several threads (particularly one about
what not to do in a kilt) people mentioning things
men do to look silly in a kilt. I find it particularly
amusing that folks here can be so defensive
about wearing a kilt, then deride others for
wearing a kilt in a fashion different than their
own.

Comments about how silly looking is a kilt too
short or long, sound so much like how silly
a man looks in a "skirt." Pretty much a case
of the pot calling the kettle black.

Those men who wear cowboy boots and hats with
their kilts get more respect from me, because they
are brave enough to violate the rules of "kilt fashion"
as much as they are to violate any other fashion rules.
Being the non-conformist I am, I don't expect everyone
(or anyone for that matter) to approve of how I look.
If I don't like how someone else looks, it is just a
matter of being something I won't do myself. I still
respect their choice and courage to do it.

So anyway, its funny that people who are supposed
to be showing their security by wearing a kilt, are
acturally showing their insecurity by poking fun at
how some else wears a kilt differently.

[Bob C]

Let me guess - you're about 16, and think tatoos and piercings are really cool, right?

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. It's just that the novelty of bragging about being a non-conformist diminishes with maturity.

Regardless of your age and fashion preferences, your post was well thought out and well stated. I commend you for that. I think, however, that you're being as judgmental as you accuse us of being.

[ronstew]

Shrug.

The vast majority of the posts in that thread are helpful and warmly funny. The people pictured are essentially anonymous. The kids in long kilts clearly don't know any better, and we don't hold it against them. The theatrical (Brigadoon) costumes are ridiculous. The discussion around cowboy boots and kilts was mostly serious.

I particularly like the DOs in that thread.

Where's the harm?

[cessna152towser]

Yes, I've noticed that as well, though less so here than on some other kilt/skirt forums. However the recent kilt do's and dont's thread gave some of the guys in the pics a lot of ribbing for wearing their kilts too long. As a long time occasional wearer of traditional Scottish kilts I'm now enjoying my new found fashion freedom of wearing casual kilts for everyday wear. Yes my casual kilts are non-tartan, non-wool and have fewer pleats and are longer than my traditional kilts as they have a hemline just below the knee instead of a selvedge at mid knee. I prefer the longer length when the fabric is so light weight. Also it is more modest when sitting or bending. Why should the fashion police dictate that a man's unbifurcated garment must end at mid knee and no lower?

[macwilkin]

Food for thought and well said, Robinhood.

Some of the most the most conformist individuals I have ever met have claimed to be "non-conformists" -- in other words, "you should march to your own drummer -- as long as you're like me".

Regards,

Todd

[Prester John]

Well said, Cajun!

[ronstew]

Some of the most the most conformist individuals I have ever met have claimed to be "non-conformists"

I came across a new paradoxical term recently: "The radical elite."

[KiltedKnight]

While surfing the internet for a decent site dedicated to kilts I've run up against and through sites like Tom's Cafe and somehow found X-Marks, so all the other sites were deleted and I stayed with X-Marks because it seems to be the most rational...until lately.

Slowly but surely even X-Marks is changing. It seems that many on this site wanted to wear the kilt for one reason or another whether it was pride in their heritage or just to be different and get away from the day to day commonly accepted tradition of wearing pants only for men.

Now there are those who are joining the ranks here at X-Marks who want to wear a kilt but that kilt should conform to their ideas of what a kilt should be and that nobody has any right to say how a kilt should be worn or what length it need be. I believe this is either a bleed-over from Tom's Cafe or these folks should be directed there to let them find out for themselves where they belong.

To get angry because the kilt by custom is worn a certain way as far as I am concerned and I would suppose any other dedicated kilter would feel is like being angry that the sun doesn't rise in the same part of the sky every morning and it disturbs them for whatever reason might exist.

Customize your car or your room or whatever belongs to you but leave what belongs to history alone. It doesn't belong to you to change. If you want to wear a Kilted Skirt then wear one, they're much cheaper than a traditional tank anyway.

Chris.

[Alan H]

Robinhood, in part I agree with what you're saying. I mean, when it comes right down to it, every person has the right to whatever they darned well want as long as they don't violate any municipal laws. So for example, wearing a KKK cap and hood isn't acceptable, and wearing see-through vinyl underwear and nothing else isn't acceptable, either. If I decided that I wanted to wear a tea-length floral chiffon dress, it's my right to bloody well wear a floral chiffon dress.

Also in support of what you say, there are a number of records about ancient great kilts that show that in fact those garments were worn at variety of lengths, not just at the currently proscribed knee-length.

So here's the deal, as I see it. I wholeheartedly agree that anyone has the RIGHT to wear whatever they darned well want, and that includes cross-dressing if that's what they want to do. I'm One Hundred Percent behind that basic principle, and that includes guys who wear tablecloths to Highland Games. If that's what they want to wear, then they have the right to wear it..

On the other hand, to my eyes, some forms of clothes look bad, or "not put together" or just plain silly...and other forms look good to me. That person whom I think looks ridiculous in their Official Star Trek top and Loud MacCleod trews and Donald Duck ski cap has every RIGHT to wear what they want.... but that doesn't mean I have to think that it looks great.

[auld argonian]

Oy! I've sat by and listened to many of my friends argue about "who's the biggest non-conformist"...these discussions were usually fueled by alcohol and chemistry. I seem to daily see folks who are going out of their way to affect some "eccentric" bit of business that makes them stand out from the crowd...here in Chicago we have an alderman (who is female but hereabouts we say "alderman" and not "alderwoman" for some strange reason) who started wearing flamboyant hats so as to get herself a "trademark" and be instantly recognizeable...trouble is that Bella Abzug beat her to the punch on this trick something like thirty years earlier so how well does that work? In a world of non-conformists who is the true non-conformist? But your point, Robinhood, was not so much about non-conformity, I think, as it was about what you feel is unfair criticism of guys wearing kilts in ways that some forum members deem inappropriate..."who are we to judge?", in effect.

Good question...I've been hanging around this forum for a while and seen members post photos of how they wear the kilt...runs from total formal traditional to contemporary kilt with sandals...the whole gamut. Some guys look overdressed (to me) and some guys look like they're just going out with a tartan towel around their waists (again...to me)...I'm thinking that most of us fall into the big bell curve belly of the middle of these extremes with occaisional side trips toward either end of the curve. There is a sort of sensitivity, though, about how we are perceived...because wearing the kilt is not the norm we are subject to criticism both postive and negative...hoping to advance the cause of kilt wearing, most of us are sensitive to anyone wearing the kilt in a manner that might bring ridicule upon the "cause". If you were here for the famous "Nathan Warmack Affair" you saw the uproar that occured when a principal called a kilted student "a clown"...holy schnikes! Ol' Nathan had just gotten his kilt and, if I remember correctly, hadn't "accessorized" completely (sporran, belt, etc.) but was anxious to wear it and show it off...the photos of him from that time showed that he wasn't exactly passing "The Hamish Test" but that he was proud and sincere...our kind of guy. I'd be more concerned about some dude who stands up for a wedding where the groomsmen are fully formally kilted and acts inappropriately (we'll leave it up to everyones vivid imaginations to conjecture on what the nature of that behavior might be) because he thinks that it's "funny" and he wants to be the class clown.

The "Do's and Don'ts" thing did have some funny bits in it (hey, I laughed). Pour1 is a real character and I'm sure that it was all in good fun. It's like Jewish Humor...self deprecating at times but warm at its core...keeps the group together in a way: poke a bit of fun at ourselves among ourselves before the rest of the world at large does. I'd like to think that if someone went up to the guy in the kilt and the cowboy boots and told him that it was a kilted faux-pas that he would just look them in the eye and say, "So...?" and pop another beer. (One thing's for sure: that dude did NOT check his outfit with his wife before he left the house!)

I commend you on your empathy, though...it's a good thing that you would even consider that point of view. I don't think that anyone here ever really takes the attitude that someone who breaks the kilt-rules is just "too off the wall" and should be an object of derision...we might point out possibilities that they might have to spiffy up their look but I don't think that there's any malice in it.

Best

AA