Do any parts of your outfit have special meaning?

[cable scot]

I have my great grandmother's cameo that I use as a kilt pin and some other bits and bobs given to me by friends and family.But for me I have to say that the Artificer sporrans that are on there way to me are what came to my mind they are my contribution to our family's heirlooms, my son and his sons will will wear them.Also Donnie at Wyvern leather works made a belt for me to commerate my involvement in a Paralimpic nordic world cup and the buckle that the U.S. team gave me.

[Macman]

I particularly treasure a silver and onyx kilt pin that my grandmother gave me almost forty years ago. She always encouraged whatever I was interested in when I was young. I also have my late father's pocket watch. The fob is a Canadian silver dollar minted in my daughter's birth year (1981). I wore it for the first time at her wedding the year my dad died.

[ForresterModern]

I replaced the irish harp buttons on my Brian Boru (PC equivalent) jacket and vest with round antiqued pewter buttons adorned with a fleur de lis, and often wear a goldtone fleur de lis kilt pin as well. This is in part because I live in Louisville (named after King Louis of France--not sure which one) which uses the fleur de lis as an emblem, but also because my surname ancestry traces back to the Counts of Flanders, then considered part of France the greater, and they used the fleur de lis as part of their standard. A tip of the bonnet to the past and the present.

[EagleJCS]

This is in part because I live in Louisville (named after King Louis of France--not sure which one)

Louis XVI - he supported the colonists in the Revolutionary War. The exploits of then Lt Col George Rogers Clark (later Brig Gen and founder of the Louisville settlement) on the western frontier in 1778 were used to encourage the alliance with France. In 1779, the settlers moved from Corn Island at the Falls of the Ohio to the southern bank, calling the new settlement Louisville in honor of Louis XVI's support. The city charter was officially recognised by Gov Thomas Jefferson in 1780.


In answer to the OP's question, none of my kit has any particularly sentimental meaning to me - I bought all of it myself. (My family has no history of kilt-wearing. My paternal line has lost the connection to Europe, having been in Kentucky since 1790 or so, and Virginia and possibly Pennsylvania before that.)

[piperdbh]

Here's my story.
These hose are worked in my college colors:


This belt buckle, made for me by a former X-marker, features my monogram:


When I made my corduroy Argyll, I used these locking-heart buttons...


...as a nod the clan Lockhart, which was my late grandmother's maiden name. Here's the tartan, along with my favorite "accessory":

[thescot]

My buckles for day wear are either a USMC waistplate or a Square-and-Compass waistplate for obvious reasons.

I also have a pocket watch that was my granfather's, an Illinois he carried over 50 years as a fireman and engineer. He bought it from a pawn shop when he returned from France in WW I. I carry it when wearing a waistcoat, kilted or no.

Aside from those items, I just have stuff! On old, inexpensive Rob Roy which was my first sporran, kind of sentimental for that. And the first balmoral is a favorite. Old and terribly worn now.

[Alan H]

A coupler of years ago I spent 4-5 days sitting around my in-laws house, basically waiting for my mother-in-law to die. I really liked my mother in law.


Well, I was very much wanted (by my wife and brother in law) to be in the house, but not so much in moms room, so I spent the time stitching up a kilt in the Gray Stewart tartan. The thread and needles were from moms sewing chest.

[Tobus]

This kilt belt and sporran are meaningful to me because my wife made them for me. (That's her head partially blocking the photo, LOL.)




One of the "blanket pins" I use as a kilt pin belonged to my late mother. Plus the clan badge I wear on my Balmoral, which she bought on one of her trips to Scotland.




There are also various shirts and ties that I wear which belonged to my grandfather, as well as cufflinks and tie tacks. And last but not least, I have my great-grandfather's pocket watch (from the early 1920s) which needs repair.

It always gives me great pleasure and pride to wear items that have family history. After all, isn't family history one of the biggest aspects of wearing the kilt?

[Katia]

I am getting far more varied responses to this thread than I expected! I love all of these stories.

[unixken]

Also Donnie at Wyvern leather works made a belt for me to commerate my involvement in a Paralimpic nordic world cup and the buckle that the U.S. team gave me.

I love that belt and buckle. What a great piece of kit!