Guilty Pleasures of the Kilted World

[Sir Didymous]

Okay, a little while back someone mentioned to me that there are instances on here that those of us with more eccentric fashion sensibilities feel a bit like the odd ones out. Not in the way that being the only one kilted (a very relatable situation), makes you feel. But rather like sitting in a room full of people with similar interest, but still not quite fitting in. Though I have a very eccentric style, I have pretty much always felt welcome here.

I think we as a forum should try an experiment. Lets share our less-than-popular likes in kilted fashion. Things like wearing great kilts in a modern fashion, those pesky "Jacobite" shirts, ghillie brogues, and any other bits that aren't regularly accepted by those in-the-know. The idea is to help some newer members that are keen to forge their own kilted style, that may not fit clearly into any of the guidelines laid out on here, feel welcome.

I'll go first:
I like great kilts way more than I should, and wear them as a part of my modern attire. I am fond of tartan flashes and ties. Though I do not wear them, I have no objections to Jacobite/ghillie shirts, provided they aren't being used as part of a reenactment kit or to replace dress attire. I wear a dirk at every reasonable opportunity. I also wear fly plaids whenever the mood strikes me.

[Livonian]

Plaids, especially of the full variety. At any opportunity, I wear my Black Watch tartan full plaid from SWK. If I hadn't needed to replace most of my shirts, my last paycheck would have netted me a plaid of the belted variety.

When my skill with leatherwork is sufficiently advanced, I have every intention of making myself a hair sporran... I've always been fond of the look. Magnificent with just the right hint of rustic charm.

Suffice it to say, my tastes are more than a bit outside what's popular here.

[Liam]

I confess, I like tartan flashes, and tartan ties, and ghillie brogues. I wear ivory kilt hose when I wear my Aran sweater. I like to wear sandals with my kilts in summer. I also have some Jacobite shirts, but generally wear them with my Great Kilt or with my Clan Claus kilt. Perhaps one of my greatest sins is to wear brown shoes, when I wear a brown belt and sporran. I wear a bow tie with my tweed jackets, and sometimes it even matches the tartan of my kilt.I also wear a kilt with a football sweater to football games. I have 2 fly plaids, and I have used a tartan blanket as a "laird's" plaid. I even have a utility kilt that I wear to mow the lawn. I like what some here refer to as matchy-matchy.
I consider none of these to be transgressions, but merely self expression.
Cheers to all....

[OC Richard]

I'm an oddity because while I like the modern traditional Highland Dress that's come down to us, I also love historical Highland Dress, collect old photos, love The Highlanders Of Scotland portraits, and dabble in military dress, the latter things causing raised eyebrows amongst true traditionalists.

So, though my dress is pretty much modern traditional Highland Dress I usually wear an Edwardian/late Victorian style hair sporran at all times just like people used to do.

I will say that my sins are nearly always sins of looking back too far, rather than sins of modernity.

Wearing a Great Kilt nowadays would be the former sin, and I'm cool with that. Wearing tartan flashes and cream hose would be the latter.

I'm definitely an "odd man out" amongst my piping peers who 1) take pride in their kit yet dislike wearing it and 2) to whom the only "right" way to dress is the current standard Pipe Band norm.

[MacRobert's Reply]

Brown brogues with day wear, Liam, to my mind is a guilt-free pleasure!

[BadenochWolf]

Bless me, @Father Bill, for I have sinned...

I feel like I have yet to find my "rhythm" in kilting, but know there are a few things I would do given the chance that would ruffle feathers. I couldn't give a fig about a hair sporran, on anyone. I unapologetically like the look of both the "false plaid" and the flat cap, though not together. I would feel no shame in wearing a kilt in a district/organizational tartan with a fly/day plaid of a clan, so long as they didn't clash terribly. I begrudgingly own a (natural fiber) pith helmet because it really is hard to beat for sun/heat protection in my usual climate, but I really hate them. I knowingly over-stuff my sporran, because it's easier searching through one pocket as opposed to the myriad ones on jacket/vest combo or toting around a separate bag. I think polo shirts look perfectly fine with a kilt. I don't CARE if I look like a member of a pipe band, as long as I look like a well-tailored one. I hate scrunched hose, but would gladly swap out for cotton socks on a hot day.

For these and all my other sins which I cannot now remember, I am heartily sorry... &c.

[tpa]

Perhaps one of my greatest sins is to wear brown shoes, when I wear a brown belt and sporran.

Don't see what there is to be guilty of there. I always match sporran to shoes as far as possible and also to belt if visible.

I also like my ghillie brogues, both black and brown, as I find they are more comfortable, being better ventilated, especially in warmer weather or indoors when wearing hose. Most of the summer, even in the UK, it is sandals, with or without hose, and since I don't have any black ones, with brown sporran and belt.

[OKSooner]

I can't wait to get a MacPherson plaid and a black watch kilt and full plaid to match it. A kilt and plaid for me seem like a suit jacket with matching trousers. It's a pity I won't have many opportunities to wear them, but given the status they hold, that would be my guilty pleasure.

[IsaacW]

I would have to say I am with OC Richard. I am a fan of the older. I love pattern hose, especially diced and argyle (although I own no argyle at the moment). I like hairy sporrans, tartan waistcoats, ghillie brogues, etc. That said, I tend to be a traditionalist... Although at times, too old and traditional. Heck, for Saxon wear, I tend to wear tweeds, tattersall, waistcoats, and older style ties.

isaac

[S Mitchell]

Don't see what there is to be guilty of there. I always match sporran to shoes as far as possible and also to belt if visible ...

For me, the guilty pleasure is wearing a brown sporran with black shoes and a black belt!

I have a harder time with the idea of mismatching my shoes and belt, but I do it occasionally anyhow. Probably, honestly, because I don't yet have a good, brown, kilt belt.