Wearing the Kilt Pin

[PatrickHughes123]

If it is just jewelry, then how do you explain the basic safety pins that you get? They are even lighter than most kilt pins.

[Hirsty]

Personally I don't think a kilt looks right without a kilt pin in place. That is my personal opinion though.

[Jock Scot]

If it is just jewelry, then how do you explain the basic safety pins that you get? They are even lighter than most kilt pins.

These basic kilt pins, the "safety" AKA(Also Known As) "horse blanket" pins probably have their roots in the military as simple, sturdy and to a minor extent, functional bling items . The better ones are often made of silver and are quite costly and made by some of the most prestigious jewellers and are often worn as heirlooms and are heavier than the modern steel ones. I wear one that my Grandfather wore in France in WW1 made by Hamilton and Inches, for example. However there are four basic things that need to be remembered about kilt pins:-

1. Its not compulsory to wear one, as a civilian.
2. It is not wise to pin both layers of cloth together. Firstly, the kilt rarely hangs properly. Secondly, there is a danger, albeit slim in my experience, of ripping the kilt apron.
3. They are just a subtle(an oft forgotten point )piece of bling and are unlikely to be of any real use.
4. The position of the kilt pin along the apron edge is entirely down to the civilian individual.

[OC Richard]

If it is just jewelry, then how do you explain the basic safety pins?

The Gordon Highlanders.

[PatrickHughes123]

The Gordon Highlanders.

Interesting.

I was told when I bought my kilt that the pin must be down at the very bottom. I still believe that the pin does serve a purpose.

You are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.

[Carlo]

Interesting.

I was told when I bought my kilt that the pin must be down at the very bottom. I still believe that the pin does serve a purpose.

You are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.

I'm sure the kilt pin serves a purpose.
Someone makes money if you buy one.

But if there were a functional purpose, someone of those who have worn kilts for 20, 30, 40 and more years would have found it by now.
In my opinion.

[PatrickHughes123]

I'm sure the kilt pin serves a purpose.
Someone makes money if you buy one.

But if there were a functional purpose, someone of those who have worn kilts for 20, 30, 40 and more years would have found it by now.
In my opinion.

I believe I have already stated this, a small wind when it hits off my kilt pin finds the pin to be a challenge. In my personal kilt wearing experience, it does serve a physical purpose.

[Jock Scot]

I'm sure the kilt pin serves a purpose.
Someone makes money if you buy one.

But if there were a functional purpose, someone of those who have worn kilts for 20, 30, 40 and more years would have found it by now.
In my opinion.

It does happen! In my rather long time of kilt wearing, some 70 plus years and some of that time wearing the kilt in fairly wild and rugged conditions I have suffered the " Marilyn Monroe" experience twice.

The front apron moving in the breeze is a fairly regular event and as long as one understands that the inner apron cannot move much there is nothing to worry about. In time you learn to walk with your hands at your sides in breezy conditions. In truth, from my experience it's not the aprons you need to worry about it's the pleats at the back that can threaten to take off!

The first of my " Marilyn " moments was at a wedding in Oban with a full blown Atlantic storm in full swing and upon leaving the church the eddying wind caught several of us kilt wearers off guard and it must have been an amusing sight for the onlookers as we wrestled our kilts back into shape. It's a bit like being attacked by some sort of irate octopus!

The second time was when my brother and I were on top of Bein Bhan shooting ptarmigan, the weather as it does, suddenly changed and we found ourselves blown to the ground by tremendous winds, actually on the deck was the safest place! But as we crawled to the nearest large boulder for shelter the pleats of our kilts were over our shoulders. That was a very frightening few hours.

So yes the wind can cause the kilt to move, but rarely to any ill effect and frankly the kilt pin in those rare severe conditions is no damn use at all.

[ThistleDown]

Perhaps I don't understand this issue, although I've read every post. I know there are Highland outfitters in the cities of the world who wish to sell every bit of regalia they can to every neophyte who enters their shop doors, and justify their pitches with dexterity and assurances of knowledge and integrity, but on a site such as this we know better or are willing to learn from those who do.

The kilt is, first and foremost, a country garment. It was never something historically worn in cities, where brisk breezes are the extreme (except in Aberdeen ).

Gales can be extreme in the Highlands of Scotland.

My latest experience. I was in the Orkneys in the Caroline of last December. Exhilarating to say the least! Pleats flailing this way and that, bum no doubt exposed for seconds at a time, legs and torso straining into it. Boots holding fast. Hair and clothing whipping this way and that. But I can't recall any worry about my 'privates' being exposed to view by those who might have turned -- for a mere moment -- to face away from the storm and in my direction.

It's my experience, of roughly 70 years, that the kilt pin is a lovely bit of jewelry. I have a great collection from over three+ generations. But that other than as bling, it has no functional purpose in Traditional Highland Civilian Dress (THCD).

[neloon]

Serves you right, Jock, for trying to kill poor innocent ptarmigan.
I believe that Thistledown was a student at Aberdeen University and I concur about the breezes around Old Aberdeen. Is a lecturer's dignity more easily damaged than a student's?
Alan