First Time in "Public"

[Psynister]

Warning: I tend to write lenghy posts...

"Public" being that I wore it to a family gathering for Father's Day. It was an interesting experience with some things I expected and some that I didn't. My mom saw the video that I linked here a week or so ago, so she knew what to expect, and I had told my younger brother about it so he knew I was going to wear it but he hadn't seen it yet.

The first reaction came from my step-nieces. All three of them burst into laughing at me wearing a kilt. I think the oldest one is around 8 or 9 and the youngest is about 2. They couldn't get over the boy wearing a skirt thing. Their brother (5) was just confused. He didn't find it funny, but he couldn't understand why I would wear something like that. Kids...gotta love 'em.

My grandfather was next, he's definitely the joking type (as is the case with most of my family) and he couldn't pass up the chance for a nice jab, "When did you get a sex change?" He never gave a compliment, so I think he was still uncertain about it at the end of the day. My uncle kept calling it a skirt as well, but his opinion doesn't mean much to me either way so he doesn't count for much.

The women were all open to it, as was my dad and brothers. One of the niece's biological dad dropped by to pick her up after lunch and just as he saw me, "Killer kilt, man! I'm Scotts-Irish and I don't even own one yet." The daughter giggled and called it a skirt again and he said, "No honey, that's a kilt. Those are two very different things." She seemed to come around a bit after that, but they didn't stay much longer.

Both of my brothers are interested in having a kilt now, which I was hoping would be the case as that's what I'm planning to get them both for Christmas this year. My older brother thinks we should all wear different tartans, while my younger brother pointed out that having the same tartan within the family is kinda the point. I'm going for all three of us having the same when I get their gifts, and if they want to buy their own for different looks afterward then that's up to them. I know my older brother will go for the craziest, most stand-out tartan he can find because that's just the kind of guy he is, while my younger brother will probably end up going more towards utili-kilts.

My younger brother is getting a little crazy about it, he's looking at trying to learn to play the pipes as well. His wife's not too sure about the kilt part. She said it looked good on me, but that she wouldn't want to go to the store with her husband wearing a kilt. It's not too surprising since we live in a small, conservative town where anything out of the "norm" is very discouraged. That won't stop me or my brother from wearing them, but a lot of people around here aren't even willing to take risks. She'll come around eventually once he gets it, I'm sure.

Before I left, the adults started asking questions about it. They wanted to know what the sporran was for and what went in there. I told them about the things that I couldn't do in the kilt (bending over, squatting down in certain ways, etc) which got some laughs, and then I showed them that I was wearing compression shorts under it so that if I did do something like that nobody would have been flashed. After that my French grandmother shocked me as she admitted that she was tempted to lift up my pleats to see what was under it and all the women in there agreed. That was a little uncomfortable given I'm related to all of these women, but apparently it's intriguing to all women or something.

A few people also asked if there was a specific reason why I wore the kilt today, if there was some kind of Scottish holiday or something. I replied, "Well, since the origin of our name (Griffith) dates back to the 13th century king of Wales, what better way to honor fathers than by giving a nod to my great-great-great-who knows how many great's-grandfather by wearing a kilt?" Not that I actually have any proof that we're related beyond sharing the name, but still.

Overall it was a positive experience. The kids laughing at it all day was a bit annoying, but kids are kids. I wore it for about 3 hours, and I enjoyed it. The kilt was a bit hot when I was sitting down in the same place for a while, but it was a hot day so it would have been hot regardless of what I was wearing. I did find that I could stand in place and just move side-to-side a bit to create a nice, cooling draft "down yonder" and that helped quite a bit with the heat.


(Edit: From left to right that's my father, me (obviously), younger brother, and my older brother.)

I wore a polo shirt instead of the long sleeve button up that I was planning for this. I thought the shirt was black, but after I got to my parents house and stepped outside to get the grill started up I realized it was actually navy instead of black. It wasn't terrible even if a bit off-color, but at least it was cooler than the other option would have been.

As the day went on, I noticed that things were getting a bit looser. My belt wasn't staying up as well, the sporran strap started drooping more, and so on. It makes me want to give up on the sporran strap and maybe switch to something like straps that just hang down from the front of my belt. I know I've seen things like that here somewhere, but I'm not sure what they're called. I probably need to tighten the actual belt as well and go ahead and start using the belt loops with the belt as well to help keep things in place.

I didn't have trouble with the kilt staying up at all, it was the belt and sporran that got more and more loose as time went by.