Kilt Breeks/Breeches? Anyone recall this

[KiltFitz]

Hoping you folks could help me out here, I have tried to search but must be using the wrong terms:

A while back, I recall a discussion on here about what is correct to wear underneath the kilt, regimental versus pants etc. As part of that discussion, someone mentioned that it used to be de rigueur for gentlemen to purchase their kilt with matching tartan underwear or I think maybe they were referred to as Kilt Breeks or Kilt Breeches. I seem to recall it may have been in an old Anderson's catalogue or similar which is why I feel certain that OC Richard was involved, maybe Steve and Matt Newsome too?

Can anyone point me in the direction of that discussion and maybe any other sources which would support that?

I was having a conversation with someone recently and mentioned this and they are very keen for me to provide more info. Any help would be much appreciated.

Fitz

[neloon]

Maybe this
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...31#post1273231

Alan

[KiltFitz]

Thanks Alan,

I'm getting somewhere now I know it's kilt drawers I'm after. Anyome point me in the direction of sources that would confirm it was standard attire for gentlemen?

[neloon]

?Here
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...talogue-74888/

Alan

[Tenmiles]

Drawers made from woolen tartan...

[neloon]

Drawers made from woolen tartan...

Yes.
I think calling them "drawers" may be making you think they should be comfortable by modern standards but they were really just a short version of the full length army trews which, being without underwear in those days, would have been too rough for our modern sensitive skins.

Alan

[Taskr]

What a great resource, Alan. The Linen drawers I seem to recall in a photo of some highland men engaged in games. The 'big,loose boxers' evident. One photo is in these threads somewhere ..not found

[tulloch]

Might be a market there Nial! A nice flannel tartan or solid color boxer could be a good product. What do they offer, if anything, in the shops on Buchanan Street?

[neloon]

You may appreciate two advantages of the undertrews:-
1.Everyone knew what was concealed so "the question" did not arise.
2.It was not uncommon for the kilt to be removed in public without any embarrassment (see the picture referenced in my first link above). Boys, especially, could doff their kilts if a tree needed to be climbed or a race run. Games athletes likewise if the pole vault was getting too high!

It should also be noted that, away from the big cities, things were more variable. In a travel diary called "England from a back-window; with views of Scotland and Ireland" (available as an ebook), a Boston journalist in the 1870s writes of Highland Dress
" ...The dress consists now of a sack-coat, — instead of the plaid
waist of former times, and the long plaid wrapped about the
body for protection, — a kilt, or a yard or two of tartan gath-
ered in tucks at the upper edge, and wound about the hips,
and fastened at the waist, and of sufficient width to permit it
to reach within one or three inches of the knees. Under
this is a pair of muslin or woollen drawers of sufficient length
to cover the thighs, but hardly long enough to be re-assur-
ing to the sensitive observer on a windy day..."
In UK-speak, "muslin" would be a ridiculous clothing material so I suspect we need a US translation.
Alan

[OC Richard]

I'd never heard of them until I started collecting vintage catalogues.

Kilt Drawers are discussed in some detail in the Anderson 1936 catalogue, here

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...talogue-74888/

Both the Day Dress and Evening Dress sections mention them. Here's the Evening Dress page