Quote Originally Posted by Monkey@Arms View Post
I would argue that it is all fashion. As you point out the big hairy sporran used to be de rigeur, to wear a plainer one would probably have been condidered a "don't" in its day. Indeed the kilt as we all know, came into vogue as a result of King George IV visit to Scotland, and was quite unfashionable before that time, and existed as a tradition only in Highlands.

Sure we now have expectations about how a "traditional" kilt is "traditionally" worn, such as where a kilt pin goes if one wears one, and what style of jacket goes with what, but as you have given many examples, these customs have changed with the times.

Kilt wearing evolves, some changes take, others fall by the wayside, and unless you're wearing it as a uniform, or as a re-enactor, its a clothing, not costume.
Exactly. As a uniform it must be "uniform". But it is not a uniform, it is (first) a national dress and (second) a fashionable and very personal garment. I am a traditionalist and have worn a kilt almost every day for (I just worked it out) 43 years (I was in Ireland for five more and sure didn't wear a kilt then!) But I have a personal style that has evolved over all those years -- my fashion. For example, I often use hangers for a sporran now; that's not traditional and is, therefore a fashion that may never become a tradition. Still, I defy anyone to criticise my wearing of them!

Tradition is not a set of inflexible rules. It bends this way and that -- according to perceptions and personal wishes -- and slowly finds its way forward to a new level.

In the culture in which it exists.

We have a cross-culture tradition, whether we like it or not, and this makes our task virtually impossible if we set out to critique the minutae of kilt-wearing. What has become "traditional" in the US is thought of as a "fashion" in Scotland; what is "traditional" in Scotland is "old-fashioned" in the US.

Want yet another example? Attend a Highland Games in Scotland and you will never see a kilted local except that he is wearing a jacket and tie. That is Scottish tradition. Attend a Games in the US and the vast majority of kilted locals are t-shirted. Will the latter fashion last long enough to become a tradition? I, for one, suspect that it will. In the US.

If and when it does, will those in the kilt-and-t-shirt culture have a right to tell those in the jacket-and-tie culture that they are not adhering to the "rules" of tradition? Or the reverse? Surely not. They have evolved from the same root, but they are different.