School girls' kilts

[Jerry]

To quote Rigged:

"Catholic School-girl skirts are pleated all the way around. Also, I've seen old paintings of traditional kilts that fall below the knee".

I posted this back in June, but at the Potomac Celtic festival, They had a lady (Some 80 years young) at the story tellers venue. She was born and raised in Scotland and now resides in the Shenandoah valley of Va. She mentioned that all of the students where she went to school in Scotland, boys and girls, wore kilts, but the girls didn't have sporrans. She also said that the girls' kilts were just like the boys' kilts.

[KiltedPilot]

I was born in England, but went to school in Scotland between age of 5 and 9, in the early 70s.

Kilts were part of girls uniform, but boys wore gray trousers (or shorts for summer). The girls' kilts had apron fronts, pleated backs, and wrapped to the left.

On certain special occasions boys were expected to wear kilts, which typically meant, for most boys (including me), wearing a girls kilt. I believe that primarily this was a matter of cost. For most families kilts would just be too expensive, given that the boys were growing, and the use was occasional.

My recollection is that the school had a collection of 'boys kilts' that could be borrowed. This was made up of kilts from girls that had left the school, or grown out of them, and had been donated.

I don't think that sporrans were required for the boys, but many boys/parents opted for sporrans to try to differentiate the kilts from the girls.

Some boys wore real kilts of similar tartan, but I don't think there was more than 3-4 with real kilts.

I did not go to the senior school in Scotland, but my brother and sister did. The boys did not wear kilts there (except in very specialised optional circumstances).

I am not sure if kilts had ever been part of the full-time boys uniform of my school. It's history was unclear as it was a relatively new school absorbing 1-2 smaller older schools.

It's funny to think that me and my friends REALLY hated those kilt days, yet I enjoy kilt wearing now.

Mike

[KiltedPilot]

Thinking further about this: One of the main distinguishing things the boys added to their kilts was to wear a belt. The kilts did not have belt loops (though some seemed to have them added), but just wearing a belt around the waist of the kilt got 90% of the effect of making the kilts more masculine.

Flashes in thick white socks also added further distinction.

[Iolaus]

FYI, in the year 2005, CatholicSupply.com is offerring: two kick pleats front and back, knife pleated full round, kick pleat culotte full round, and culoote with front and back flaps. They do, however, mention kilts in the heading on that page.
http://www.catholicsupply.com/uniforms/uskirt.html

A search of that website turned up one school that has kilts as part of the uniform, Bishop DuBourg High School in St Louis, Mo. I looked up their dress code and the kilt is intended for the girls; there is no mention of kilts in the boys dress code.

I also found several schools on-line that mention kilts as part of the girls dress code but the only image I could find was a hand-drawn picture at another uniform supply place http://www.flynnohara.com/mGirlsStyles.asp?nav=0105

[Rigged]

From what I've read, the school girl outfits are adapted from the schoolboy uniforms of the Victorian period. So, the girls are wearing boy's kilts or something that looks similar.

[Rob Wright]

WHAT! NO PICS! ;)

Rob

[KiltedPilot]

WHAT! NO PICS! ;)

My parents should have a couple of photos in their albums. I will ask them for a copy. Might take a few weeks as they are in UK, and I am in Canada.

Mike

[James]

My daugher left school here in North London about five years ago-the uniform skirt was in fact what would be described as a kilt-aprons/pleats etc, albeit open on the female side.

The literature of the school called it a skirt, and the shop selling uniform items did likewise.

James

[Iolaus]

My parents should have a couple of photos in their albums. I will ask them for a copy. Might take a few weeks as they are in UK, and I am in Canada.

Mike

I don't think that's the kind of pictures he meant. ;)

[Sherry]

I have seen girls' school skirts called kilts, & they don't resemble the classic Victorian kilt at all. It just seems to be what school skirts are called nowadays.

Quite a few styles of clothing from Victorian times are now considered classics, among them the kilt for both boys & girls, tartan itself, sailor-style outfits, tams, dropwaist dresses, and smocking.
Sherry