Interesting buckle configuration question

[morephi]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this...I saw this when browsing the internet. The kilt has a short leather strap attached at the back with buckets at either end for closure. I hadn't seen something like this before and wondered if this was normal at some time. Anyone have thoughts or information?

It is an old etsy listing, says WWI military kilt. Full listing with more pics found here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1136850...isting_details

[Troglodyte]

The stitched-on leather strap and buckles at the back are new to me, but I have seen the single long strap attached to the under-apron, which passes through the slot at the left, round the back and fastenes to a buckle at the right.

I know of a good example of this, which is understood to date from about 1870.

But I have to say the example you show is probably better for the kilt than what is usually seen.

[OC Richard]

I've seen hundreds of military kilts but this is the first time I've seen something like that.

I see all the time, on Ebay, vintage ex-military sporrans which have had "aftermarket" alterations, and less often kilts, jackets, hats, etc.

The big film costume houses, which hired costumes to the film industries in London and Hollywood, obtained and altered hundreds of vintage military kilts, jackets, and sporrans in the 1920s and later.

This being the case my knee-jerk reaction would be to think that this is an ex-army kilt which has gone through a process, or multiple processes, of ex-service alteration.

Keep in mind that many of the Victorian-era army kilts didn't have any buckle-and-strap arrangement, but were pinned in place each time the kilt was put on.

Ex-army kilts which once had buckles & straps might be stripped of these before being discarded.

I think that's why, with vintage ex-army kilts, the most-often seen aftermarket things are non-military buckles and/or straps.

Add to that the fact that officers purchased their uniforms privately, and their kilts would be made in any way the particular officer saw fit.

In this case we might be looking at more than one, unrelated, alterations which might have been done.

Let's say the kilt didn't have a hole for the underapron strap, so one was cut, and the owner decided to put a leather reinforcement around the new hole. Or the kilt had the hole but it was worn and frayed.

The long leather strap strikes me as some random military strap or sling which was pressed into service by somebody who didn't know how kilt straps are made.

We can't see how the strap is attached to the edge of the front apron, but seeing how it's attached will tell us much.

[Jock Scot]

I have a feeling that might have been a private purchase by an Officer.

[Jock Scot]

As an afterthought, I think it was an Officers kilt, Why? I think with those straps one would need help in getting buckled up tidily, who would do that? Probably one's batman.