When and where did you see your first kilt?

[Blubbi]

I was 35 years old when my grandmother died. I found a photograph of my kilted greatgrandfather in her estate. This was the starting point for me to wear the kilt. I´m proud to show my scottish heritage and I like the comfort and look of this kind of garment

[Mark Stephenson]

Hmmm… I just can’t remember, but I must have seen kilted pipers in parades. Although my Great Grandfather was Scottish, (and I am Scottish on my Mom’s side too), we never discussed family heritage. It wasn’t until two years ago that a neighbor asked us to go to the annual Spring ceilidh sponsored by the Cincinnati Caledonian Pipes and Drums Society. That was the first time I remember having any personal contact with kilted folks. I recall my wife called me over to the geneology table and showed me a photo of my family tartan. Honestly, I actually had a “Kunta Kinte” moment. It was very profound. We submitted an application for the Cincinnati Caledonian Society that evening. We went home and started searching on the internet and found both sides of my family are associated with Clan MacTavish. I ordered my first kilt the next mont and life hasn’t’ been the same since! We are going to the Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas concert in Cincinnati this evening, and I can’t decide whether to wear my Stephenson Modern, MacTavish Modern, or USAF tartan.

[drum bum]

Hey I grew up in Quincy too! Wollaston! Saw my first kilts worn by the local Emerald Society pipe bands. I've always loved the looks and the music.

[chrisupyonder]

When I was at school about 1953. I was brought up and went to school on the east side of Manchester. It was an area of Irish influx including Ulster Scots. There was a pipe band attached to our school and church called the Kerry Pipers. One of my mates in my class joined the band when he was 13 or 14 and had full highland gear but with plain green kilts as it was an Irish band. I wanted to join but there was a long waiting list and never got in.
I thought my mate looked fantastic in his kilt attire and I think this stayed with me, but I did not get my first kilt until we had moved up to Scotland and I retired.
It seems now that my GGG... Grandfather was probably an Ulster Scot and we still have family in Ulster.

Thanks for a very interesting thread.

Chris.

[David H]

I think it was sometime 2006. If I am not mistaken I purchased it off the rack at the Richmond Festival and it was a Clan McKenzie kilt. My GG Grandmother was a McKinney. So when I found out this bit of information as soon as I could, I purchased the McKenzie kilt. Since then I have purchased a kilt in the USAF tartan, Clan Henderson (my wife's family), and Scots 4 Tots tartan.
Recently, I financed a tartan disigned by Alexis Malcolm called the Scottish American Military Tartan. Go to the Tartan Register and check it out. It is located as Scottish American Military. The tartan was designed for those military members with some sort of connection to Scotland.
If any of you are interested in this to add to your collection, just contact Alexis Malcolm. I usually google her name.

[KenB]

I guess I was quite young. Step-sister was a highland dancer, always remember the Pipe Bands for the Grey Cup & Santa Clause Parade.

[thecompaqguy]

My mate wore his kilt to a party, and I thought, that's cool then I saw someone in a black kilt in the West End and thought, It's different, but I like the look. I did a search for kilts, and there's lots of funny interpretations of kilts out there on the web I was not keen on the 'SkirtCafe' (supposedly men in skirts / CD site) look, so at first I was apprehensive. I googled kilts, and found this Forum around 2007! I took the plunge and bought a kilt from one of the 'Highland Cashmere' stores on Regent Street and it was awful... an itchy thing that cost almost £70 it was ill-fitting and the Mrs hated it, saying I looked like a schoolgirl I threw it away but the kilt bug was already in my bloodstream. I found Heritage of Scotland on eBay and it went from there.... I have 9 kilts, but 10 kilt hangers, and I think I'm looking for the 10th kilt now :mrgreen:

[fpessanha]

The very first time I saw a kilt in "real life" was in Lisbon (Portugal), not many years ago. I was in the metro/tube/underground/subway and there was this tourist, probably from Great Britain, with his rucksack, boots and kilt. People noticed him, but he was very much in his own confortable space and nobody gave him more than a fouth glance... remember, that was in Portugal.
That was the first time I saw a kilt.
Two years ago I was in Belgium and was browsing through a thrift shop and saw a couple of kilts for sale. They were cheap as dirt (and probably good as dirt as well) but I lacked the guts to buy one...

[JSFMACLJR]

The men of my family have always worn the kilt, so I cannot say with any certainty when I first saw a kilt: I've always been around them.

[Bill aka Mole]

I'd probably seen kilts before this but my "up close and personal" event was when I was 5, in December, 1964.

My parents and their friends had these adult parties every month or so for about a year and our turn to host was for Christmas. The theme was to "Come as your country." Since we were hosting, we dressed as common peons of California, despite my Father being of Hungarian descent and my Mom was Polish on her Dad's side. But my parents friends, the MacMillans, called everyone on the list after my Mom did and got everyone to show up kilted. This wasn't hard as the majority of the crowd was related to the MacMillans in some manner with the exception of Mike and Macrena, who were Filipino. But everyone came to our house kilted, including Mr. Mike (his kilt looked like a sarong on him).

The kicker to the event was our next door neighbor was the Chief of Police. One of the MacMillans called him to let him know about the shenanigans that were going to happen as they were going to arrive by limo, something that didn't happen often in 1964. Our neighbor set up a police escort and contacted the local newspaper to have some "reporters" (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) come by to try to get a story and photo-op with the Ambassador from Scotland!

We were blissfully preparing for the evening event to start when there was a rather polite knock on the front door. My Dad, dressed in a simple cotton shirt, cotton pants with a rope for a belt, sandals and a sombrero opens the door to find the newspaper team asking for an interview. Well, he was shocked to say the least. Then, a siren sounded and two motorcycle cops and a limo came around the corner, went down and around the block (to turn the limo around) and pulled up in front of our house. One motorcop is in front of the lime and the other pulls in behind the limo, both have the red and blue lights flashing. The front passenger door of the limo opens and a security type guy wearing a black suit and shades gets out first, looks about for a second and taps the roof of the limo. The back door opens and a second security type gets out and looks around as well, sticks his head back into the limo and then the MacMillans step out, followed by two other couples. Kilts, Prince Charlies and the feather bonnets. Needless to say, with one reporter trying to get past the security guys to ask questions, the second reporter "taking" pictures with the big bulb flash units that were in use at the time; we were floored.

The limo left and the rest of the crew arrived and the party started in earnest. Our neighbor came over and chuckled at my Dad for getting one over on him. Every kid in the neighborhood asked me about what had happened the next day and I was told that I couldn't say anything about it.

Of course, during the evening, Mr. John (husband to a MacMillan third cousin) showed exactly what a true Scot wore under the kilt as he sat on the hearth of the fireplace with his legs spread wide. For the idea, sit on a stool or other item that is only 6 inches above the floor, consume at least a pint of single-malt, and then just relax and spread your legs. Your amoungst friends, just relax!

In comparison, family events were extremely tame. The only thing that came close to this was when my Dad's secretary had her wedding at the Buddist Temple in Litle Tokyo. Both family parents and the Groom were dressed in Japanese formal. The rest of us looked out of place in western dress.