Kilt origin

[Tobyveen of Clan Dunbar]

When did they start wearing the kilt and what was worn prior?

[Steve Ashton]

Wow, that question is going to open a huge can of worms.

The truth is we simply do not know.

[Nyckname]

Wow, that question is going to open a huge can of worms.

The truth is we simply do not know.

Especially since it probably started as a peasant's garment, and people weren't so keen on writing down what they did hundreds of years ago.

[Tobyveen of Clan Dunbar]

What I was seeing was late 16th century. Which would be 1500's but I trust Wikipedia about as much as I've come to trust ancestry.com

[Baeau]

.....Wow, that question is going to open a huge can of worms....

Following a close second is, "What did they wear under........"

[Tobyveen of Clan Dunbar]

Following a close second is, "What did they wear under........"

Good girls don't ask. Bad girls find out for themselves.

[Tobus]

Matt Newsome, a historian who has researched and published quite a few articles for the Scottish Tartan Museum, says in this article that the earliest written mention of what we think of as a kilt (the belted plaid) was in 1594. There's no telling how long it had been worn by the time it was actually documented, but we can say that it at least goes back to the late 1500s.

[Tobyveen of Clan Dunbar]

Matt Newsome, a historian who has researched and published quite a few articles for the Scottish Tartan Museum, says in this article that the earliest written mention of what we think of as a kilt (the belted plaid) was in 1594. There's no telling how long it had been worn by the time it was actually documented, but we can say that it at least goes back to the late 1500s.

So based on that someone in 1650 was probably wearing the great kilt or possibly the phillabeg? The leine was gone by then?

[figheadair]

So based on that someone in 1650 was probably wearing the great kilt or possibly the phillabeg? The leine was gone by then?

Yes, the Leine Croich had almost certainly disappeared by then and been replaced by the feileadh mor. There's no evidence of the feileadh beag that early.

[kiltedsawyer]

When did they start wearing the kilt and what was worn prior?

I believe it was in the fall. Prior to that it was fig leaves.