The Ghillie Shirt

[Tobus]

Aren't you being harsh? It's a romantic Highland-type shirt with a renaissance element. The way I see it, as long as it is bought from a kilt company then it is not a costume piece. There may be costume-like ones out there, I am not sure about that, but the one I have is from a kilt company.

I'm curious as to why you think that it can't be a costume piece if it comes from a "kilt company". These companies aren't under any sort of mandate that they may only produce authentic clothing, nor is there any reason to believe that just because they make something it is automatically a legitimate bit of Highland wear. They make costumery all the time. As you have admitted, it is a romanticised style. If it is not historically authentic, is not part of the evolved tradition, and is a modern romanticised design, what else could it be but costume?

MacKenzie Frain sells these ghillie shirts along with so-called "chieftain weskits" (this costumish style is also commonly called a Jacobite vest), labeling these as "New Jacobean". They are marketed specifically to people who like the style as a romanticised costume, with the caveat that they are not historically correct. That seems like a fair compromise. Defining the style as New Jacobean indicates that it is a modern re-imagining of an older style, with plenty of liberty taken in the design. It seems to have enough of a following to have become a modern style in its own right, for those who prefer that look. MacKenzie Frain, along with many other outfitters, will keep selling these as long as people want to buy them. But there really isn't any escaping the fact that it is a costume piece designed with no small degree of fantasy in mind.

[PatrickHughes123]

I'm curious as to why you think that it can't be a costume piece if it comes from a "kilt company".

I just think it is unfair and harsh to call it a costume piece. It's a type of shirt, regardless of origins just like the grandfather shirt, a plain white shirt or a wing collar shirt. This is just how I see it, I think its place in kilt wearing is underappreciated. I mean, to be honest, why does it matter when it came around? Some doublets and kilt jackets only came around recently, so why does it matter? They're considered genuine.

[PatrickHughes123]

Are you honestly saying this gentleman in the photo looks like he's wearing a costume?



I think he looks excellent, very smart looking. A Ghillie Shirt, a very smart-looking shirt, a great modern contribution to kilt wearing.

Source: Scotweb

[Luke MacGillie]

Are you honestly saying this gentleman in the photo looks like he's wearing a costume?



I think he looks excellent, very smart looking. A Ghillie Shirt, a very smart-looking shirt, a great modern contribution to kilt wearing.

Source: Scotweb

Context, and authenticity. Lets remove the Scottish element and substitute say, a tie dyed shirt. On the back of a frat boy at a party, paired with a fake wig, its costume, on the back of a person who has been "On the Bus" with jam bands their whole life, its a piece of, well, cultural dress......


But these gillie shirts have no actual basis in Scottish culture, they are, pardon my pun, cut from the whole cloth of costume.

[pbutts]

Context, and authenticity. Lets remove the Scottish element and substitute say, a tie dyed shirt. On the back of a frat boy at a party, paired with a fake wig, its costume, on the back of a person who has been "On the Bus" with jam bands their whole life, its a piece of, well, cultural dress......


But these gillie shirts have no actual basis in Scottish culture, they are, pardon my pun, cut from the whole cloth of costume.

This is is actually a really good analogy. When I’m not piping, my other musical obsession is the Grateful Dead (and yes, I’ve worn a kilt to Dead related shows). Before the late 1970s, there was very little tie dye on tour with the Dead. The tie dyed tour shirt was very much a creation of the mid-80s revival that took place after the Dead finally had a number one hit and a video on MTV.

it doesn’t take long for cultural revisionism to take hold.....

[Luke MacGillie]

This is is actually a really good analogy. When I’m not piping, my other musical obsession is the Grateful Dead (and yes, I’ve worn a kilt to Dead related shows). Before the late 1970s, there was very little tie dye on tour with the Dead. The tie dyed tour shirt was very much a creation of the mid-80s revival that took place after the Dead finally had a number one hit and a video on MTV.

it doesn’t take long for cultural revisionism to take hold.....

Im a victim of my time! My introduction to the Dead was the Europe 72 album, but I didnt see the Dead till summer 87 after I graduated High School, and the tie dies were in full swing then. Been catching them, or one of the variations ever since......

[FossilHunter]

Are you honestly saying this gentleman in the photo looks like he's wearing a costume?



I think he looks excellent, very smart looking. A Ghillie Shirt, a very smart-looking shirt, a great modern contribution to kilt wearing.

Source: Scotweb

Yes, it looks like a renaissance fair costume to me.


From: renfaire.com

[Macman]

Ghillie shirts, like ghillie brogues, have been around for a long time now. I'm in my early 60's, and they've been around for as long as I can remember. Thousands of people the world over, including in Scotland, wear both. You can buy them at the most traditional highland wear suppliers. Go to any highland games and you'll see lots of them, even in Scotland. I can see why many people see them as traditional highland wear, even if most traditionalists do not.

[Tobus]

Ghillie shirts, like ghillie brogues, have been around for a long time now. I'm in my early 60's, and they've been around for as long as I can remember. Thousands of people the world over, including in Scotland, wear both. You can buy them at the most traditional highland wear suppliers. Go to any highland games and you'll see lots of them, even in Scotland. I can see why many people see them as traditional highland wear, even if most traditionalists do not.

If you're in your 60s now, I would presume you were born somewhere in the early 1950s, right? I had previously requested that people share any sort of photographic evidence they may have that would show the earliest appearance of the ghillie/Jacobite shirt. I may be wrong, but I don't recall seeing anything that went back that far. It seems like the 1960s-1970s may have been when this style appeared, or at least that seems to be the consensus. If you remember it into the 1950s, that may be revealing.

Just for the sake of context, let's remember what other sorts of imagery was in the public mind back in the 1950s. Romanticised costumes were the norm when portraying the past. After all, this is what people thought cowboys dressed like: Notice any similarity between this and the ghillie shirt?



One might start to theorise that the ghillie shirt was just a Scottish themed variation of a typical costume shirt from that era.

[Macman]

Tobus, my first recollection would be in the 70's. I'm not sure when they first came out. Of course, I have my romanticized versions of cowboys too! I'm just saying that, after all these years, ghillie shirts have now squeezed their way into what I would call "accepted" highland wear, even it they're not traditional highland wear. Not accepted by all, though!