What's Modern Kilt Wear> ...or...what's this subforum really about?

[Dale Seago]

I would say the reason that a lot of the pictures and topics some of you would like to see here actually end up in General Kilt Talk is because that is where people talk about how they generally wear the kilt... which would of course be how they wear it everyday (i.e. modernly/casually). So that really just leaves the strictly non-traditional style Utilikilts, Freedom Kilts, Alpha Kilts, etc., and the very "modern" accessories, to be discussed in Modern Kilt Wear.

I think you may well be right.

[Dale Seago]

There are many people who choose to wear the modern kilt in what is deemed a traditional fashion. These folks like to maintain a semblance of history in their attire and of course go about daily with a nice air of nastalgia about them. There is absolutely nothing wrong in any way with that at all. After all it's a free world ( to a degree ) and people are free to wear thier modern kilts made in a traditional style however they like.

The rest of us choose to wear our modern kilts made in a contemporary style in a way much akin to the average fashion that one would wear trousers with. And there is absolutely nothing in any way wrong with this styling at all either. There is nothing any more modern to the way we wear the kilt then there is by those who label themselves as traditionalists. As we are not changing the kilt, simply using it as something to cover our lower halves in much the same way that the historical highlander might have done. I would reference this article as it goes a long way in showing my idea of what the kilt is.
http://living.scotsman.com/features/...day.6783167.jp

Don't forget that for some of us, "It's ALL good!!"

I'm perfectly comfortable in feileadh mor or feileadh beag with 1740s jacket & waistcoat, shirt, neck stock, dirk, buckled shoes, etc.

I'm equally comfortable in a contemporary tailored to measure handmade tartan kilt and Harris Tweed Argyle jacket & waistcoat, tie, sgian dubh, etc.

Or hiking the hills in a safari shirt and a Buzz Kidder canvas kilt or a Stillwater acrylic with a SWK nylon cargo sporran. Perhaps with a leather bomber jacket or a good wool commando sweater if it's a windy/chilly day.

I love it all.

[Alan H]

Don't forget that for some of us, "It's ALL good!!"

I'm perfectly comfortable in feileadh mor or feileadh beag with 1740s jacket & waistcoat, shirt, neck stock, dirk, buckled shoes, etc.

I'm equally comfortable in a contemporary tailored to measure handmade tartan kilt and Harris Tweed Argyle jacket & waistcoat, tie, sgian dubh, etc.

Or hiking the hills in a safari shirt and a Buzz Kidder canvas kilt or a Stillwater acrylic with a SWK nylon cargo sporran. Perhaps with a leather bomber jacket or a good wool commando sweater if it's a windy/chilly day.

I love it all.

Yeah. Makes two of us.

[Jock Scot]

Steve, with the greatest of respect can I suggest that you read my post again. I am agreeing with you, mostly! And where we don't, I am pointing out the difficulties, for all of us, of defining these differances.Of course people know where I stand on these matters and I am glad they do, but in my post there is not one major general criticism--apart from one particular point that I personaly have trouble with----and even then I have openly said that others are more than free to do as they choose.

As to the other chap in your picture, yes of course I know the name, but I have no idea what he looks like-----until now.

[The Wizard of BC]

Nothing would be gained by a further response.

I will not be responsible for having another thread silenced by being provoked into a quarrel.

What to the modern kilt wearers think this forum section should be about?

[Jock Scot]

Nothing would be gained by a further response.

I will not be responsible for having another thread silenced by being provoked into a quarrel.

What to the modern kilt wearers think this forum section should be about?

I am really sorry that you ever thought there was a quarrel. As to the above, it seems we agree on that too.

[Paul Henry]

Nothing would be gained by a further response.

I will not be responsible for having another thread silenced by being provoked into a quarrel.

What to the modern kilt wearers think this forum section should be about?

It's dificult to know exactly what this bit of the forum should have,and it is with a certain ammount of caution that I suggest that positivity would be much better than many of the negative views that always seem to posted by the very traditional members here. The line about remaining silent if not having anything good to say is a good one.This shouldn't mean that there is not a good debate , but phrases like "that's not the proper way to wear a kilt" or indeed "that's not tradtional" really don't have a place here either.

All of us are "modern" kilt wearers, when or not we are copying the way some of ancestors wore kilts before, but we are not them, our ideas and our way of life is different, not better especially . but different.

some thoughts about how i wear my kilts

I wear kilts that are tradtionally made with 8 yds tartan, knife pleats, leather straps and metal buckles, with stabliser and hair interfacing, lined with cotton or silk, and almost entirely hand sewn, this I think is one of the most traditional style of kilts, and I don't imagine even the staunchest of tradtionalist could argue with that, I wear those kilts often with a shirt , tie and a jacket,sporran, long hose,with plain flashes, and generallly black shiny shoes, that to mean is a very tradtional and smart attire, and it is often my "smart"

I also wear exactly the same kilt with a casual open shirt, pushed down walking socks and heavy shoes or boots, and a casual jacket or sweater, so nothing has changed with the actual kilt, but just what I put with it, to me that's still a fairly traditional way of wearing it, but perahps it might be thought of a more"modern" way of wearing a kilt.


I also wear machine sewn cotton/linen/denim/camo kilts about 5 yards, sometimes with pockets, and these I wear fairly casually with boots and scrunched socks and open shirts or t shirts.


Sometimes it is possible that there is overlap between these groups, but I choose to wear my kilts depending on where I am going, or what I am doing, the situation goes a long way to determining which kilt i pull from the wardrobe.


A final thought about what should be in here, almost anything kilt related, that isn't especially strongly traditional,so discussion about the value of sherrifmuirs, jabots, buckle shoes and the like probably are better somewhere else!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Just my opinion here and nothing more. Steve, I would describe what you are wearing in that photo with Nick as traditional. Yes, you are wearing modern shoes and a modern sporran and a modern shirt, etc. But so what? "Traditional" does not mean the same as "Historic."

It is a very traditional thing to wear the kilt with the contemporary style of shirt, shoes, etc. After all, the kilt is a contemporary and living form of national dress, it is not a costume or a museum relic that must be done in the style of a particular era. The kilt is just as much a part of 21st century Scottish attire as it is 18th century Scottish attire.

And I know you know all of that, I'm just putting it out there to show where I'm getting my take on things. I would even call your kilt fairly traditional inasmuch as it is a woolen kilt, made from tartan cloth, in the style of a traditional Scottish kilt. The pockets, after all, are pretty much hidden, unlike the big cargo pockets on the utilikilt.

I make a demarkation between this and what I might call a "modern" or "contemporary" style kilt, by which I mean any kilt-like garment that did not develop in the line of Scottish tradition. So that would be utilikilts and other such "male unbifurcated garments" which were designed and developed quite independantly of the Scottish tradition.

[Alan H]

Just my opinion here and nothing more. Steve, I would describe what you are wearing in that photo with Nick as traditional. Yes, you are wearing modern shoes and a modern sporran and a modern shirt, etc. But so what? "Traditional" does not mean the same as "Historic."

It is a very traditional thing to wear the kilt with the contemporary style of shirt, shoes, etc. After all, the kilt is a contemporary and living form of national dress, it is not a costume or a museum relic that must be done in the style of a particular era. The kilt is just as much a part of 21st century Scottish attire as it is 18th century Scottish attire.

And I know you know all of that, I'm just putting it out there to show where I'm getting my take on things. I would even call your kilt fairly traditional inasmuch as it is a woolen kilt, made from tartan cloth, in the style of a traditional Scottish kilt. The pockets, after all, are pretty much hidden, unlike the big cargo pockets on the utilikilt.

I make a demarkation between this and what I might call a "modern" or "contemporary" style kilt, by which I mean any kilt-like garment that did not develop in the line of Scottish tradition. So that would be utilikilts and other such "male unbifurcated garments" which were designed and developed quite independantly of the Scottish tradition.

I tend to think of things more along these lines, myself.

Steve, your X Marks kilt with pockets (and remember, I've SEEN that kilt! I even borrowed it from you to show to someone at a Nor Cal Beer Night as an example of a first class bit of kit) is of course not entirely traditional. However, it's inspiration and basic contruction sure is!

Seems like we have a diversity of opinion here! This is to the good, IMHO.

[Alan H]

However I would like to echo something that Steve has written twice now.

As a general rule, the guys with a more "contemporary" bent to their kilt wearing don't go into the Traditional Kilt forum and tell the fellows there that they look a mess. In past years at X Marks, before we had so many individual sub-forums, there were times when more "contemporary" guys told the "traditionalists" that they were stodgy and boring and they for damn sure weren't going to wear THEIR kilts by THOSE GUYS rules. It's true. There was a time when that happened.

But those days have pretty much passed.

Taking myself as an example, I don't even READ the Traditional Kilt subforum (well, I do, but I scan it only every month or so), because I know that what goes on there doesn't interest me a whole lot. I would never be so presumptuous as to trot in there and tell people that I didn't like their kilts, that they looked awful etc. etc. etc.

Is it SO MUCH TO ASK to request that guys who don't like contemporary kilt styles, or the wearing of traditionally-inspired kilts in modern ways, to just NOT comment in here? You know, if you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything? Nobody is demanding that you change your mind and like what you see in here. All that is being asked is that you either avoid the place because it annoys you, or limit your comments to something positive that you can contribute.