Highlanders Discuss Highland Attire

[wildrover]

Well, it's Monday, and my account is still active... yes, I seriously thought I was gonna get the boot, after what I posted. I've really enjoyed reading the variety of replies and questions as this thread grows, and it's sparked a couple questions in my mind (that I'll post elsewhere) and a very interesting (and somewhat heated) discussion between a good friend and I.

I am amongst your ranks for option number one! <snip> etc.

Really? Why do you think so? Not that I am saying it's inconceivable, simply that your comment seems to me to fit more appropriately in a couple of the unfortunate categories I brought up, and while it'd be awesome if what you're saying is indeed the case, I'm skeptical...so...why do you wear a kilt, and what makes you certain that your experience sets you in that category of Jock Scot's?

There is little of substance that I can add but here are a few reflections on my own wearing of the kilt and what I have observed in Scotland.

It's those reflections that make all the difference. Most of us have not had kilts in and out of our lives, so hearing about your and others' thoughts, experiences and reactions goes a long way to help those of us with more tenuous connections!

Scots who buy kilts and full-dress sporrans for their weddings ofter turn up in them at rugby and football matches (the tartan army) with sports shirts, pushed-down socks and boots ...

A quick sporran swap, pull up the socks (maybe), and it sounds good to me. Wearing a kilt well means an awful lot more than two socks of the same color and a sgian dubh...as it is with anything else. Substitute "suit" for "kilt", and "tie" for "sgian dubh"...same thing.

I could actually see someone wearing a snarling full mask animal sporran to a football (what we call soccer) match...in many ways it's the only place I can think of, that a guy could get away with a piece like that, and as long as it's not done as a joke, I think a guy could pull it off. Fuzzy bunnies don't really cut it, IMHO, when you're supporting your side of a bloody, bone-jarring, organized brawl...but a snarling beast would do the trick, and the main group with negative opinions regarding full masks is likely to be elsewhere on game day .

...Maybe not in the stands, but certainly I could see it in the boxes...you guys have boxes, at matches, like we have boxes in football (our football) and hockey stadiums?

In wearing the kilt outside its native land, people generally seem to feel the need to "get it right" and, in so doing, can end up appearing more Scottish than Scots themselves.

You seen the videos of Japanese greasers? I think it's simply more human nature than anything else, to adorn oneself with the trappings of another culture as either an attempt to enjoy a romantic view of that culture, or be accepted by it...in both cases missing the often-subtle spirit that produces the cultural expressions being adopted. Tourists in Texas do it too...tourist traps sell "ten gallon hats" in the way it sounds like "kilts" are sold on the Royal Mile. If people actually do manage to get the appearance right, but miss the spirit, they will be betrayed by a lot more than their accent.

What I take from this thread is that I will never be a Highlander but, when I wear the kilt, I can try to embody their spirit. To me, this is much better than trying to copy their style because, at best, I will only be imitating with the result of a simulacra. I remain somewhat confounded by the natural kilted ease Jock Scot et al. exhibit but I shall endeavor to cultivate my own, within my local context, and with deference to tradition. Less fussing about minutiae and more kilted je ne sais quoi!

Cheers to that . I can only hope that I will someday understand the 'spirit' of it, and I suspect a lot of that comes with experience and a good source of information!

Is the wearing of any kilt, regardless of manner or accessories, preferable to the kilt not being worn in the same circumstance? Which is the greater sin--wearing it "badly" (incorrectly) or not wearing it at all?

Wearing it badly is by far a greater sin, IMHO, than bowing to societal pressure not to wear it at all.

This is America. We can wear whatever the hell we want, as long as the naughty bits are covered...the rest is dictated by good taste.

However...the way our brains process information means that the first time we see something extremely categorically different, we set a standard. For example, if you are around people wearing jeans every day, if you see an embroidered or rolled pair, it is a subcategory of jeans...those slightly different jeans haven't set the standard in your mind for "jeans".

Now, if you were to see, for the first time ever, a guy in a kilt...kilt is a new category. What you see that man wearing with his kilt, even his attitude, mannerisms, and actions, will set a standard for the next man you see in a kilt. Did the first kilt have an exploded bunny on the front? Were their shoes tied up around the ankle, and white socks? Was there a fly plaid? Were there shiny black leather boots with rings and buckles, laced to the knee? Did the guy have a limp wrist and a boyfriend and act like he was wearing a skirt? Did he have bagpipes, and was he in a parade? Sgian dubh? Whiskey flask? Was it at a sporting event? Was the kilt made of leather? Was it tartan? Was it without pleats but the wearer called it a kilt? Did it have pleats but no tartan, and the wearer called it a kilt? Was it a girl in a kilt, rather than a guy?

All those potentially unrelated details result in a new pattern in your mind, a standard for "kiltedness". Whether those details were important is irrelevant to your uninformed judgment. Maybe the guy with the limp wrist has an extremely Scottish family history. Maybe the guy in the fetish boots is on his way too/from a renaissance fair(e), and his claymore is back in the car. Maybe the guy with the plaid just got married, and the guy with the white hose and shoes is in a pipe band.

The point is, as much as we try so hard (especially in America, I think!) to keep ourselves from judging based on appearances, the fact of the matter is we still judge. We may withhold negative opinions, but we still judge..."gee, that looks really feminine...I'd never wear it." Or perhaps "that guy looks like he's part of a band or a branch of the military...that style isn't for me." Or even "there is no way in hell I'm gonna dress like Mel Gibson." They may be unspoken judgments, but whether we (as humans) like it or not, a pattern has been set in our minds, it will be projected for good or ill on other things that seem to match that pattern, and that initial pattern takes a long time and a great deal of input to change.

The first impression sets the tone, always. It's how our brains work...remember when you had a fight with a sibling or a classmate, and how whoever got to the adult first was the one whose story was believed? Same phenomenon.

The point is, many of us are setting that pattern in people's minds (they have rarely, if ever, seen a kilt), and by wearing a kilt inappropriate to the venue--

--PC to walk around the kitsch booths at a Highland Games
--Man in a kilt, wearing it like it was a girl's skirt, self-aware or not
--"Braveheart" getup when it's not Halloween
--Lace at your chin to go to the movies

--you are setting an improper standard for the rest of the world, and your improper kiltedness is reflecting poorly on every other guy who wears, or wants to wear, a kilt.

So I disagree that the kilt is just another piece of clothing. When it is as ubiquitous as jeans, it will be just another piece of clothing, and you can wear whatever you like with it, however you like, with the hemline where you please and the socks pulled as high or as low as you like--there will be so many other kilted examples that stylistic idiosyncrasies will be correctly identified as individual rather than a part of being kilted. Until then, you are making any number of first impressions through your kilted day, and as the rest of us kilted rabble aren't around to demonstrate the variety of kilted styles, you are representing the rest of us...so please do right by us.

There are those here who hold hard to tradition and adhere to the rules--perceived or functional--for wearing a kilt. (Never too low, socks too high, wrong jacket, etc.)

I separated out this quote because those three items might seem like no big deal...or like a Jewish chok (like 'merkin', I learned that word here at Xmarks! ), as rules without explanation, and I think it's worth mentioning that there is a basic reason for each. If your hem line is too low, or your socks are too high (or heaven forbid both together), you look like a guy wearing a girl's skirt and knee-highs...in other words, you have ceased to look like a man in a kilt, and instead you simply look like you are a closet case seeking acceptance through a legitimate man's garment. The wrong jacket is simply the wrong jacket, and it could be 'wrong' for any number of reasons including cut and fit as well as style.

There are others who hold that in this modern day, the kilt is but another bit of clothing, to be worn and accessorized to the wearer's taste.

I think those others overlook the novelty of a kilt, to their and our detriment. Maybe it's better to say that I agree 100% that it's another piece of clothing to be worn and accessorized to the wearer's taste, as long as it is done tastefully as regarded by the rest of the world, and appropriate to the setting in which it is worn. There are also certainly settings where I would rarely, if ever, wear a kilt...it's simply inappropriate.

My only question is whether this is simply the thinly veiled contempt for Americans that one not infrequently encounters among Brits (I've certainly encountered it more than I'd care to), or are you speaking from personal experience by which you could site some examples?

Dude, it was the 'LOL'.

...And I've never encountered that attitude. Maybe I'm just lucky...but then I see guys and girls everywhere as just guys and girls, and the ones who aren't, I don't spend time with.

Or what's the give-away in knowing the difference between a Scot who's got it wrong and just an American?

It's the accent, but don't assume that every "just an American" will be wrong forever by virtue of national origin .

-Sean