Utility of the Great Kilt

[Touchstone]

I have often worn a black dinner jacket - what you call a tuxedo - and obviously spend a lot of time with a clerical collar. Both are extremely comfortable if you wear the right size and often enough to learn how to wear them.

A good point. I would wear my tux more often, but it would get more strange looks than my kilt. I really need to upgrade my social acquantances ... but then that's why I joined XMarks.

[Jock Scot]

I am curious. I have heard the claims of the "added utility" and how it was "a garment with many functions".
..............

For example - Someone recently, wearing a few yards of 10 oz modern kilt fabric, claimed that what they were wearing could be used as a blanket at night. Can anyone who has ever spent a night, rough on the side of a mountain, in the Highlands of Scotland, wrapped only in a length of modern kilt fabric, please give their review?

..........

I can’t say that I have ever slept out on the hill with just a covering of lightweight tartan and I cannot say that I have slept out on the hill recently. But in the distant past, I have spent a few times sleeping on Beinn Bhan, Ben Stack, Ben Hope and Foinaven when in pursuit of things that swim, run or fly that inhabit those areas.

Three things that made the experiences memorable, were the midges, the damp( wet usually) and the cold, even in the summer!

[Pleater]

I can’t say that I have ever slept out on the hill with just a covering of lightweight tartan and I cannot say that I have slept out on the hill recently. But in the distant past, I have spent a few times sleeping on Beinn Bhan, Ben Stack, Ben Hope and Foinaven when in pursuit of things that swim, run or fly that inhabit those areas.
Three things that made the experiences memorable, were the midges, the damp( wet usually) and the cold, even in the summer!

There is a lot to be said in favour of a Gortex bivi bag as supplied to the British Army - I can stash my kit in the bottom and still fit in comfortably, and I have a multilayer gauze which seems to keep out the bloodthirsty opportunists.

[Steelkilt]

I can’t say that I have ever slept out on the hill with just a covering of lightweight tartan and I cannot say that I have slept out on the hill recently. But in the distant past, I have spent a few times sleeping on Beinn Bhan, Ben Stack, Ben Hope and Foinaven when in pursuit of things that swim, run or fly that inhabit those areas.

Three things that made the experiences memorable, were the midges, the damp( wet usually) and the cold, even in the summer!

Living in California removes my right to compare climates, but those sound like fond memories!

[Steelkilt]

There is a lot to be said in favour of a Gortex bivi bag as supplied to the British Army - I can stash my kit in the bottom and still fit in comfortably, and I have a multilayer gauze which seems to keep out the bloodthirsty opportunists.

I like to supplement my synthetic outdoor sleeping gear with a natural material- but there is no replacement for no-see’um mesh to keep out the biting critters!

[Jock Scot]

Steelkilt.

[OC Richard]

Until I'm presented with further evidence to the contrary, I lean to the theory that the breacan-an-fheilidh of the Scottish Gael and the brat of the Irish Gael were originally the same garment.

If so, the function was as an outer garment, a cloak, and for outdoor use in cold weather would be heavy wool.

When and why the Scottish Highlanders began belting their cloak around their waist none can say, but it does leave the limbs less encumbered for climbing, working, fighting, etc.

When the breacan-an-fheilidh became the finery of the Highland aristocracy, worn indoors for dress functions, of course the fabric got lighter and thinner. Saying that such garments would be impractical for living rough is stating the obvious.

We modern people can be of the opinion that the breacan-an-fheilidh was impractical but that doesn't change the fact that it was worn by men who presumably would have worn something else if it didn't suit their needs.

[Queenslander]

I personally have trouble understanding why anyone would want to appear in public wearing something that is cumbersome, and whose practicality has been eclipsed by centuries of development, evolution, improvement and societal development, unless it were to a costumed or historical re-enactment event.

Like wearing a tie?

[Father Bill]

Like wearing a tie?

In many ways, yes. Haven't worn one for over a decade. It does however serve in some cases as a badge of office, as when I was a elementary headmaster.

[Steelkilt]

Like wearing a tie?

That brings up an interesting question: why someone would choose to wear uncomfortable or generally useless articles of clothing. For my purposes, I wear items fitting this description (i.e.- a tie) to signal something. I wear a tie to signal that I am dressed up for a professional event or fancier social setting. The kilt, however, I wear with no intention to signal- it’s merely an issue of comfort and style. In fact, I’d prefer the kilt to be a more commonly worn item so that my wearing it wouldn’t garner any attention at all.

This, of course, is not the same for all. Many people wear the kilt to signal a familial link to Scotland.