Experiences from a new kilt-wearer

[meinfs]

So I've now got a foot into the world of the kilted with my self-made kilts. I've begun to wear them too. Mostly for my square dancing and every now and then an outing to the general public.

I enjoyed the mostly positive stories that I've read on here and I believe it is the vast majority of stories.

Let me share some of mine.

Warning. There's some negativity in the stories, so proceed with caution.

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The negative ones stand out, unfortunately...

- A group of square dancers were admiring my denim kilt saying that they've never seen one before. One of them which looked really grumpy, (and I've danced in a square with him earlier- he never smiled) -- reacted that he was at least Irish, when I said that no I don't have a tartan kilt. I just carried on the conversation with the rest of the group.

- Went out to walk the dog in my DIY #2. I saw teens a block away and while I wasn't looking heard some loud laughter (from them) and when we got closer, they yelled from across the street "Is that a skirt?" to which I replied, "No it's called a kilt" and one of them (a boy) said, "you'll get a a lot of girls in that!" I just said "yes" and continued my walk. [I think he meant that in a derogatory manner]

- On the same walk, some guys in a construction truck (with orange cones) whistled at me as they drove by. Not necessarily bad, just funny to me.

- Went to go dancing at a country/western bar (I two-step) and got this rather passive-aggressive comment from a "friend." He had avoided saying hi to me all night and when he did, he said "I think you're taking this skirt thing too far". To which I replied, "oh you don't approve?" and he immediately said that he was just kidding me. [There's a certain underlying nastiness to that comment, I think, given the circumstances of the evening and given that he, being a regular at the club, typically is the center of attention.]

-On the same night, another (always-grumpy) guy carries a conversation with me about my kilt and at some point I said no I didn't have a tartan kilt. And he says that he at least has a clan connection (with certain tone in his voice). I responded with, "that's great," and carried on to get a dance.
[In his defense, he is always grumpy.)


ON the positive side, my square dance friends admire my kilts a lot and some have expressed supported my idea of making the kilt part of our clubs official uniform... hmmm. that'd be very nice.

As of yet, I don't have heartwarming stories of comments from strangers.
I have to go out more in my kilt.

Speaking of which, I went to HomeDepot (a big home improvement store, stateside) today. A guy asked me if I was Irish and I said no (I am not, I'm asian) and he went on his way. Hard to read what he meant by that question- although if he followed up with, "why are you wearing that?" then I'd have answered the question and attempted to enlighten him with kilt-wearing for everybody.

Most people just say nothing. Although, I've noticed that more people who pass me would tend to look twice.

Oh, I just remembered this personal story that I like the most. I went to G Street Fabrics in the area upon a request from friends who were there getting wool fabrics for kilts (guess who's making them kilts :-). They were being helped by this lady who said that she had training in haute couture in France and really wanted to see my denim kilts. She couldn't believe that I had hand sewn it and wanted to see for herself.
So I went to the store and showed it to her and she inspected it and was impressed and kept saying the she appreciated it very much that I showed it to her (she said that emphatically several times.) I don't know if she has any kilt-making experience but I hope that the meeting might have inspired her. She did ask that I return to show her a kilt that I (will be) making out of the wool that we got from the store).


So there. I'm sure the more I wear my kilts, the more experiences and stories I'll have. Thanks for reading all this way...

It'd be great if you could share some of your memorable stories both good and bad.