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  1. #31
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    As Steve said near the start of this thread, I usually keep a kilt pin with each of my casual kilts and only remove them for washing. I do have a collection of them and sometimes change them out when I wash a kilt, but that's very infrequent - usually each kilt has an assigned pin that stays on it.

    But probably my favorite kilt pin is my Lord of the Rings Lothlórien leaf:

    IMG_20201011_0836415 small.jpg

    That said, I don't wear a kilt pin with my semi-trad kilt because the way it's built is much heavier and doesn't need it as a functional item. I've tried it, and I just don't like it.

  2. The Following User Says 'Aye' to MichiganKyle For This Useful Post:

    JPS

  3. #32
    Join Date
    18th October 09
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    Quote Originally Posted by EagleJCS View Post
    There are a lot of pipers and drummers that love the music, but think the 'whole kilt-thing' is a real pain in the posterior and would much rather have the focus be on the music.
    For sure I've always heard Pipe Band people complain about having to wear Highland Dress and expressing the desire to be allowed to compete in ordinary casual clothes.

    What's interesting is that despite this many experienced Pipe Band people take pride in their uniforms and are what might be termed "kilt snobs" due to only full-yardage handsewn traditional kilts being considered "real kilts".

    This struck me quite a few years ago when, at a Highland Games, all of us saw Utilikilts for the first time. Utilikilts were quite new, only the original Seattle firm making them, and they showed up at a Games with a booth.

    The booth was very popular with crowds gathering around, trying on the garments, and buying them in huge numbers.

    However the reaction of all my band-mates was extremely negative. They made derogatory comments about the Utilikilts all weekend calling them "wrinkly skirts" etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by EagleJCS View Post
    After all, outside of orchestras, no one else has to wear funny-looking outfits to play their music.
    Actually around the world it's quite common for musicians to be expected to wear costumes of one sort or another. Rock bands and Country Western bands are only two of many current examples. (How rockers look might not be a "funny looking outfit" but you can tell a rocker walking down the street due to their hair and clothes.)

    It's especially so with "folk" or "traditional" music, for example Bulgarian, Mexican, Bolivian, and Spanish folk musicians have specific costumes they generally perform in.





    Quote Originally Posted by EagleJCS View Post
    In my pipe band, members pay for their shoes, kilt hose, kilt pin (if desired), waist belt/buckle, shirts (long and short sleeve), Argyll jacket, Inverness cape (waterproof, not wool), and Glengarry. Many times, the band will order some of these items (mainly the kilt hose) in bulk and offer them to the band at cost, or slightly above, to reduce costs and make sure everyone gets the same look/color. Everything else (the kilt, cap badge, waistcoat, flashes and tie), the pipe chanter, reed & reed cap for the pipes and drums/carriers for the drummers, are provided by the band.
    I've been in a few different bands here in Southern California, the first (1977) wearing Full Dress and issuing everything: feather bonnet, doublet, kilt, plaid, crossbelt, waistbelt, brooch, sporran, hose-tops, flashes, and spats.

    By the 1980s bands had generally done away with Full Dress and of course nowadays bands nearly all compete in waistcoats, jackets being a thing of the past.

    Bands around here, over the last twenty years, have issued cap-badge, tie, kilt, sporran, hose, and flashes. The members buy their Glengarry, shirt, and Ghillies. Now with waistcoats bands here don't need to issue belts.
    Last edited by OC Richard; 23rd September 21 at 05:45 AM.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

  4. #33
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jock Scot View Post
    I cannot say if those attitudes are present with band members on this side of the Atlantic, I hope not!
    I've heard similar stories about band members abusing their kit from both sides of the Atlantic, sorry to say.

    It is interesting how different things are here and in Scotland concerning how many hours one spends in one's band uniform.

    Here, band members drive themselves to the Highland Games. Since many don't like wearing their kit while driving they tend to arrive in the car park in their ordinary clothes, and change in the car park (strange I know!) or at the Band Tent inside the Games.

    Many band members change into their uniform right before performing and change back into ordinary clothes right after. Thus they might be in uniform for only an hour or two.

    In Scotland bands hire a coach and make the trip to and from the Games in full uniform the entire day.
    Last edited by OC Richard; 23rd September 21 at 05:58 AM.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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