POLL: 2013 "Kilt Census"

[OC Richard]

Utilikilt= I saw one for the first and only time last year.

As I've posted elsewhere, Utilikilts are a common sight here, far more commonly seen than any other sort of kilt and it's not even close. Just yesterday there were two families walking about Disneyland, both husbands in Utilikilts. Another guy was wearing one today. Other types of kilt, almost never, but Utilikilts all the time.

[TheOfficialBren]

I saw my first and, the the best of my knowledge, only Utilikilt around Christmas time at a concert. It was okay, I suppose but certainly not for me.

I seldom see kilts with any regularity in Southern California but when I do it is overwhelmingly tartan. I LOVE tweed kilts but I've never seen one in person, although I would wear one in a New York Minute. MUGS are certainly a rarity in these parts.

Where I live trews/tartan trousers are never seen...ever. Balmorals/Glengarries/deerstalkers/fore-and-aft (to my knowledge I am the only wearer in my immediate vicinity) bonnets/caubeens almost never seen at all except at the Games and Burns nights.

Most kilties around here wait until Summer or St Paddy's Day (that one has always been a mystery to me) to don their gear. It's a bit warm here for a kilt jacket during the day so most men wear a polo or nice button-up sans jacket and often sans tie.

Flatcaps are (don't read this, Jock) commonly worn with the kilt around here as the flatcap is making quite a comeback as everyday headwear here (not sure about elsewhere).

Most men have a simple day sporran and wear it with a chain or stap. Hangers are a rarity, although the first sporran I made used hangers. The lates one that I purchased had a chain, which I have swapped for a strap (glad I did).

Kilts around here tend to be the lighter variety though many older kilties wear 8-yarders, often 16oz wool, most younger men go for 5-yard PV, for obvious reasons...in July it gets 110* F here!!! In Winter it drops to the 30s F.

Just a bit of insight.

Sorry to hijack.

[Downunder Kilt]

OB you had better get down and visit O C Richard at Disneyland, it's only 30 odd miles and you can see a lot of utili - type kilts

[TheOfficialBren]

I suppose I had better! Lol.
Maybe I just don't get out enough.


I should book-end my comments about MUGs by saying no offense intended...just a personal opinion.

[Zardoz]

I'm always a little surprised when it seems like I'm seeing more kilts around here in the Houston area than folks see in much bigger cities. I'm sure it depends on were one might go, but I figure I've seen a dozen other fellows in kilts in the last week or so, about 60/40 trad vs. MUG

[Mael Coluim]

Let me see………………

On Fridays, I wear a traditional kilt in contemporary ways.


On Sundays, I wear a modern kilt in contemporary ways.



On the fourth Wednesday of the month, when we have our Scottish Society meeting I wear a traditional kilt in contemporary ways.



When there is a Scottish Society function in which we meet the public I wear a traditional kilt in the traditional way.



When I’m just hanging out on any day I wear the modern kilt in contemporary ways.


THEREFORE, I VOTE; Modern Kilts (MUGs) + Traditional Kilts, Traditional and Contemporary Ways

[kiltedwolfman]

Sometimes I wear traditional in a traditional way, most times I wear kilts in a contemporary way, and quite often I wear non traditional kilts in a contemporary way.

[Vercingetorix]

As I am awaiting the delivery of my first kilt, I can only speak in terms of intentions rather than acts, which are a truer measure of the man.

I will be wearing a modern kilt in a contemporary manner. That is to say, with whatever shirt seems to fit, and most likely workboots.

Unlike many on this thread, I've never seen a traditional kilt in the wild, as it were. Outside of specific Scottish or Masonic functions, the only kilts I've seen are the Utilikilt style, or in my case, the Trinity Kilt.

I don't know if this actually qualifies, but my first actual kilt-wearing occurred entirely by accident. I was wearing a pair of cut-off jeans on an extended backpacking trip through the Appalachians back when I was in my early 20s. (Many people had color TVs back then.) Anyway, the chafing got so severe that I ripped the seam out in the middle and used my repair kit to crudely sew it back together in a more comfortable fashion.

OMYWORD it was as if heaven had descended and scattered manna on the rosy fields about me. That turned into one of the most comfortable backpacking trips of my now-tenured existence. I was subsequently convinced by a well-meaning girlfriend that, perhaps, the kilt was not appropriate for me, and I unceremoniously chucked it.

My dormant desires were fanned to flame again by a trip to Scotland and subsequently encountering a few unbifurcated men once back in the States.

Should my toe in the water not meet with a shark, I intend to get a more traditional outfit for Lodge meetings, as my WM has approved it. But as it stands now, I am (or will be) firmly modern. Perhaps I should just go ahead and get the Rush t-shirt and flip-flops.

[Java]

Mael; As a fellow Southern gentleman,(and bow-tie fan) I'm loving that first picture. Now, what tartan to wear with a seersucker bow-tie in the spring................

[Jock Scot]

I have been on this website since 2007 and I have, like many of us, seen a few such surveys here, different wordings with the questions, but basically asking the same thing. Now I wonder if the trends have changed over the years? My impressions are that they are much the same as 6 years ago, with perhaps, a slight increase in interest in the traditional aspect of kilt wearing. Thoughts anyone?

Gosh ! I am sorry Colin I might be hi-jacking your thread! If you would like me to remove this post then I will, forthwith. Nevertheless I hope you feel I am adding to your interesting survey rather than taking anything away from it.