Tartan kilt questions v. modern kilt questions

[millar]

I was wearing my putty AK on Saturday at the local park. I had the kids on the swings and we were joined by a couple of my daughters friends and their mothers. We pushed the kids for a while and no one said anything about the kilt. On sunday after kids soccer one of the mothers, a delightful woman who is sometimes quite shy comes up to me and asks, "My daughter wanted to know, you were wearing a skirt yesterday, are you a part of a group or something." I told her that no I wasn't part of a group, I was just wearing a kilt. When she heard kilt she smiled and said But it wasn't a tartan. I said that is true but it is still a kilt and left it at that.

The point of this is that I was wondering if those of you who have both modern and trad kilts do you find people more accepting of the trads?

[cavscout]

I have noticed that it is easier for people to grasp the concept of a tartan kilt. When I first wore my UK Survival to work not many people commented at all. But once I wore my Gordon Modern tartan, people where visibly relieved to know that "oooooh, it's a kilt". I've learned a lot about people around me by wearing a kilt.

[Mr. Kilt]

I don't know if my traditional-looking kilts get more acceptance or not. 99% of the time I'm out kilted I don't hear any comments at all.

Today I went over to an older couple's house to look at some coins they were thinking of selling. I was wearing my black original Utilikilt. The lady said "Very nice kilt, are you Scottish?" I've never had my UK referred to as a "skirt", except from a few close friends who were just razzing me a bit.

[Hamish]

I don't know if my traditional-looking kilts get more acceptance or not. 99% of the time I'm out kilted I don't hear any comments at all.

It is very much the same for me, Al.

Today I went over to an older couple's house to look at some coins they were thinking of selling. I was wearing my black original Utilikilt. The lady said "Very nice kilt, are you Scottish?" I've never had my UK referred to as a "skirt", except from a few close friends who were just razzing me a bit.

Again, just how it is with me. One female neighbour who is slightly older than me, if that's possible, always refers to my tartan kilts as "kilts" and my plain colour contemporary kilts (even TFCKs) as "skirts". She means no harm as that's the way she sees it, and I make no effort nowadays to correct her. I am in no way offended. My neighbour and her cronnies see nothing wrong with me wearing a "man-skirt" and have told me so!!

Also, I have noticed that when I am out in public wearing a plain kilt, with another guy in a tartan kilt, it is invariably the other guy who gets all the attention and the compliments! I have put this down to the fact, and this has been upheld by many of those paying the compliments, that the tartan is so much more eye-catching than a plain colour, no matter what the style. Often, the stranger has assumed that I was wearing shorts. On those occasions when the two of us are wearing tartan, the compliments are generally directed at both of us.

It does not appear to be a matter of "acceptance", just one of interpretation.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

It is simply a fact of life that to most people kilts = tartan and that is that. However, I don't like this juxtposition of traditional kilts vs. solid kilts. That simply is a false division. Who says traditional kilts cannot be solid? I can show you a portrait from the early seventeenth century of a man in a solid colored kilt! I think what separates a traditional kilt from a contemporary/modern kilt is construction, not color.

Aye,
Matt

[davedove]

I think a big part of it is public perception, and a bit of misinformation. When the average person thinks of a kilt, they see a picture of a Scotsman wearing his tartan. As Matt has said, traditional kilts could be solid in color. Likewise, modern kilts can be made from a tartan material. But in general, the public thinks all kilts are made from tartan material.

[TitaniumRic]

It is simply a fact of life that to most people kilts = tartan and that is that. However, I don't like this juxtposition of traditional kilts vs. solid kilts. That simply is a false division. Who says traditional kilts cannot be solid? I can show you a portrait from the early seventeenth century of a man in a solid colored kilt! I think what separates a traditional kilt from a contemporary/modern kilt is construction, not color.

Aye,
Matt

Excelent Matt, my comments exactly.....I have been told that's not a kilt...it has no tartan.....I have 3 solid kilts and one plaid , for the most part I get a few snickers/comments as i pass by,, yesterday while getting some groceries, I had an older gentleman ask me if he gets comments on his shorts , that I must get quite a few, I told him that the kilt is warmer and more comfortable that shorts..... he took a step back, and looked , and had to agree.

just one more that has been enlightened to the kilt.


Cheers

[Ugly Bear]

I was wearing my putty AK on Saturday at the local park. ... I told her that no I wasn't part of a group, I was just wearing a kilt. When she heard kilt she smiled and said But it wasn't a tartan. I said that is true but it is still a kilt and left it at that.

That's the good thing about AK's, UK's and USAK's Philabeg: they all sport the company name in their logo. If someone wants to say, "That's not really a kilt," you can say, "No no, it says right here: KILT," and point to the logo.

If that doesn't shut 'em up, then they're the sort who are more interested in argument than anything else, and they deserve to be dismissed.

[Raphael]

I wear my Utilikilts a lot and people think they are kilts. Some people even think the Cargo pockets are good ideas.