Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
I don't have Before The Kilt but I do have



which is wonderful because the author presents the actual evidence by category (written accounts, surviving examples, imagery) so that the reader is in the same position as the author.

I always prefer authors that are heavy on presenting evidence and light on drawing conclusions, rather than the other way round.

BTW I don't think you can point to a certain point in time and say "before this time the kilt didn't exist, and after this time it did." In my opinion there was a period of unknown length in the Highlands during which the mantle was an undifferentiated garment which at the wearer's whim could be thrown over the shoulder like a cloak (the brat of old Ireland) or wrapped around the waist (a proto-great kilt).

Just why the fashion began of wrapping the mantle around the waist in the Highlands, and not in Ireland, who can say.
I've often wondered that myself; could it have been a climate difference or outside influence?