'Garb' and the Kilt

[dano9672]

Garb is not a costume, Garb is my preferred attire. My Garb is usually a kilt, a breacan feile if the weather's not too warm because I'm aiming at the late 16th century. If I must, I'll stretch the era a little and wear the philabeg as the shop I work at is in a vale and the air gets stagnant rather quickly.

A costume is something we wear to convey an altered image of ourselves.

"Appropriate Business Attire" is a costume.

[gmcdavid]

I've got absolutely no problem in wearing a kilt as part of a costume. When I do, however, I do my best to accessorize is in such a way that it does not appear to be everyday wear. For instance, I wore my kilt to the Renn Faire the other day, but wore a rennaisance style shirt, boots, and the works. That way it looked like a costume and not like I was going about my normal business.

That is close to my own thinking. If I am in "costume", for Ren Faire or reenactment, then I will be wearing a period style shirt, footware, etc. The kilt (a great kilt) is part of the costume.

However, on other occasions, when I wear a tailored kilt, it is clothing. My shirt, shoes, jacket (if I need one), etc. will be modern.

Operationally, this amounts to:

great kilt: garb
tailored kilt: clothing

This works for me since my reenactment period is 17th century. Those reenact later periods may need a more careful distinction.

Glenn

[Alan H]

To a guy who wears his kilt twice a year, it's a costume.

I dunno, Bear. I have to agree with Todd on this one. Just because a guy chooses to wear his kilt on the rare occasion doesn't mean it's a costume.
The word 'costume" has a lot of negative baggage hung on it in this crowd. In other circles, it's not a "bad" word at all.

I wore my new, formal cut Bear Kilt to a wedding just the other day. That's a special occasion, so is it therefore a costume?

NOT!

How about me mate Phil, who wore a MacFarlane tartan vest to his wedding, and probably won't wear it a lot, henceforth? Is that vest a "costume?

I sometimes wear tuxedos, usually for a concert I'm playing. At that point the tux is literally "work clothes" but I only do that sort of work 2-3 times a year any more. So is my tux a costume, since I don't wear it a lot?

"special occasion wear" does not necessarily equal "costume", with all that word...."costume" implies 'round here..

One other thing, though this isn't directed at Bear, either. There's a strong bias on this board for wearing casual clothes. That's fine.

My Dad wore his neatly pressed United State Navy Uniform to work for twenty-seven yeyars. When he was on board ship, things got lax, but on land, he was always pressed, clean and shipshape. When He retired he went to wrok for the County of Monterey and always wore a tie and a sportcoat to work.

I know men who wear suits every day, and are comfortable in them. I know guys w ho wear blue jeans and t-shirts to work and are comfortable in them.

The CLOTHES don't make the person. The PERSON makes the person.

so I might respectfully suggest that we all state our opinions over what kinds of clothing work well for ourselves, but not suggest that people who dress differently from us are somehow dysfunctional. After all, remember that we, the kilt-wearers are the aberrant ones in society.

[Prester John]

Vestus virum non reddit.

That's my two cents in latin.

[Rigged]

There's a strong bias on this board for wearing casual clothes.

I think that bias on this list is because there's been such a bias in society in the other direction for so long.

I think it comes from a desire to shake us guys out of habit of viewing the kilt as being only a formal garment.

[MacConnachie]

Personally, with the possible exception of hiking, I'd consider the Great Kilt as a costume today. In it's day is served multiple purposes. It was clothing, a backpack and a blanket. Today it just doesn't fit generally as daily clothing. The tailored kilts we wear are a bit different. They're accepted formal, semiformal and casual menswear, depending on the accessories and other clothes worn with it. Of course, at a Renn Faire, as opposed to a reenactment, it really doesn't matter. The Faires are primarily playtime for grownups more than anything else and, frankly, most anything that doesn't cross the bounds of decency is pretty much ok.

I can see where one would develop this perspective, given the relative lack of great kilts amongst those going a-kilt, these days. However, I can assure you that there are those of us who wear them as much more than a costume. In fact, my first kilt was a great kilt, and during the first four-and-one-half years of being so attired I wore that one exclusively. My first two-and-a-half years in the pipe band meant putting on the great kilt whenever we had a gig; in fact, there were jokes amongst the rest of the crew about the "special needs drummer" and his great kilt. When it comes to discussions of "costumes," many who will rent/wear a kilt once or twice for a Hallowe'en event or costume ball are much more likely to use a "wee kilt" as the base upon which to build. Why is that? Because getting into a great kilt can be orders of magnitude more time consuming and difficult than buckle-and-strapping on a wee kilt.

Never having attended a Renn Faire while kilted, I'm not conversant with what would pass for conventional wisdom amongst such folk when it comes to discussions of garb vs. costume.

I can say that the two Highland games I attended while dressed in a great kilt brought more positive and even admiring comments my way (as in, "Can you believe that guy's dressed in a double-plaid on a day like today!?" in August) than anything I've experienced in such assemblies while dressed in a wee kilt.

While dressing in great kilt and doublet may bear more than a passing resemblance to being costumed to some observers, I can also assure you that I take it very seriously, and in such situations am at least as concerned about appearance and deportment as I am when dressed in a more formal rig with wee kilt.

[Sciuropterus]

I go the MN Renn Faire every other year or so, the last several times (just to be funny) I wore a loud hawaiian shirt, bermuda shorts and sandals with black socks; the stereotypical garish tourist. The wittier characters would engage me in conversation about my "odd and curious garb", ask what far-off land I was from, etc., all good fun.

[macsim]

My youngest son (13) actually asked at school if he could wear his kilt. They told him he could not because it was considered a "costume" and in so many words they said it might cause a ruckus. Yeah, probably a ruckus caused by all those little girls in their Brittany Spears "costumes" wanting to get a glimpse of a fine young lad!

[bubba]

He shoulda just wore it. After all, it's easier to get forgiveness than permission

[bear]

From Merriam-Webster's on-line dictionary

Main Entry: 1cos·tume
Pronunciation: 'käs-"tüm, -"tyüm also -t&m or -"chüm
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Italian, custom, dress, from Latin consuetudin-, consuetudo custom -- more at CUSTOM
1 : the prevailing fashion in coiffure, jewelry, and apparel of a period, country, or class
2 : an outfit worn to create the appearance characteristic of a particular period, person, place, or thing <Halloween costumes>
3 : a person's ensemble of outer garments; especially : a woman's ensemble of dress with coat or jacket

If someone is wearing their kilt for their Scottish heritage, they are, by that definition, wearing it as a costume.
As my post said, "Some of you think I dislike this. I don't object to kilts as costumes. I object to kilts as ONLY costumes. They were garments first."
In other words, I'm against people telling me I can't wear my kilt however I please.
I think there's a hell of a lot more people telling guys in casual kilts they're dressed funny than guys in traditional kilted gear.