Wearing the Kilt Pin

[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).