What got you interested?

[Freelander Sporrano]

I've had to think on this one for sometime. I've always liked kilts. I used to watch the E'burgh Tattoo on the box each year. How my interest really started was when I moved to Norway some 11 years ago (The same winter as the olypics.)

A lot of men wear national costume here in Norway for special events. I was often asked if I had a kilt.This began to nag on me.

So last year I finally had enough money to do it. I went for a formal Prince Charlie outfit.The rest is ....History.

Now I'm here and don't just wear it for best any more.

All the best....David

[philbo]

My friend Lance started wearing a kilt about a year and a half ago. He offered to make me one if I supplied the fabric. That's all it took. 16 months later I'm up to 16 kilts.

[TheFly]

I also can't say that I'd always had kilt on the brain. A while ago, I guess it was when Utilikilts "broke" and started getting media coverage, I though that it was about time something rugged and comfortable was available to men. I still didn't really think about getting one.

A year ago, I acuired an "accessory" that most men don't have to contend with when wearing trousers. I think you guys can speculate among yourselves. It gets in the way more than what God gave ye. I started thinking there's got to be a better alternative than these tight trousers.

Then, recently, I left my ultra-corporate job and was afforded a little more comfort at work. I started thinking how nice it would be to be able to be kilted. Though I still don't have my kilt and probably won't breech the subject for a while.

I was looking at Utilikilts for their rugged look and snappy bits. My wife wasn't thrilled about the prospect of my wearing a solid colored "skirt". So we compromised. I said I'd get a tartan until I was more comfortable in the wearing and she was more comfortable in the seeing.

I think a UK is not in the too distant future, however.

[richardljohnson]

1974- Brigadoon as the High School Play. I was the Senior Technical Person so I was at everything from blocking to last show. As part of the show (wedding) the school had a real piper and dancer. I made a comment to my parents and my mother said that some of the genology she had done traced a great(x5) grandfather to Scotland. I started reading about the Campbell Clan which is the one of the Clans in Brigadoon. My father also told be that there was a family story about on his side of the line which was reported to also come from Scotland. After some more reading I connected with the Gunn Clan under my fathers side of the family.

1979- Met someone at work who's mother came from Scotland. She brought me alot of things about my Clans and information on kilts back from a Scotland visit.

1984- Had a chance to buy 2 kilts and I wore it a while to some events but kilts in the Dallas area were not often seen. They went into the cedar chest and pulled out occassionally.

2003- Ran across Monarch of the Glen on a local PBS. Got hooked and remember how much I enjoyed wearing the kilt. Orders Sports Kilt, Utilikilt and made more than 12 kilts (only about 8 wearable due to 'issues' with some). Then I found USAKilts and ordered a few of theirs and by then I was rehooked.

2004- I am currently planning to start back on my 'traditional' kilt I started in the winter. I got side tracked so in another month or so it will become my winter project again.

RLJ-

[Rigged]

TheFly,

Makes me think of what our fathers and grandfathers went through when their wives first started wearing pants. Especially considering that "wearing the pants" meant "being in charge."

I'm talking about WWI, WWII and Korean War vets who yielded their symbolic (and eventually much of their actual) power to women.

[bubba]

Heck Rigged, I'm proud that my wife wears the pants in this family. She can have the damned things.

[akaussie]

AS I've stated before in another post my interest in the kilt came as a result of some surgery that i had back in marh. My wifes uncle saw me hobbling around in loose pants and jokingly said "gee you could use a kilt" the rest as they say is history.
My wife still isnt keen on the idea of me wearing them down the street but is happy for me to wear them around the house, she will also help me make my own so now I think she realises that i am very serious about this. Cheers Andrew

[JockEleven]

I'd never paid much attention, until late last year I caught the last fifteen minutes of the film "The 51st State" (it has a different name in the US, I think) on television, featuring Samuel Jackson wearing a very good-looking kilt.

Then I realised that kilt-wearing was practical, eccentric and fun in modern British society, so I prowled around on UK eBay until I found a very cheap casual kilt to get me started. No point in starting with a massively expensive formal kilt if one's not sure yet!

[Mychael Sporrano]

My wife has the Scots blood with a nearly equal portion of Ulster tossed in for good measure- kilts have always appealed to her. To be honest, I didn't really give them much mind until we were invited to a medieval themed wedding last summer that had me researching kilts. [I also remembered Liam Neeson and Eric Stoltz both looking pretty cool in the movie Rob Roy!] At the time I decided it was too expensive to buy one, and besides which we also didn't leave much time to have one arrive in time for the occasion. Yes, a rental could have worked, and one was considered, but renting is against our nature. So, I researched and saved, and thought about things for many months while steeling myself to the price I would have to pay for a well made kilt.

Last year, my son began wearing a kilt that his grandmother had brought back from Scotland for his older sister. Inexplicably, Grandma didn't think to bring one back for the boy (?!), and my daughter did not like the scratchy wool; thus, 4 year old Simon adopted it when he figured it went well with his interest in castles and knights. Folks looked at him a little funny, but he didn't notice except when people would think that he was a girl and address him as such. I got to thinking that if my son got to wear a kilt, then I could as well. The spirit was willing, the research had been completed, and (of particular importance) the funds were in hand. Some months after that (this past Spring) I became kilted.

Incidentally, after seeming a bit peevish with it, Grandma has finally come around to Simon's wearing of her gift-kilt, and she even complimented me the other day [albeit to my wife and not to me directly]. Whereas she now seems fine with my wearing of the kilt [To the in-law's bemusement I always dress traditionally for Sunday dinner at her house], she occasionally makes comments about how much money I have spent on my wardrobe. It really galls me since the kilts and such are not coming from her pocket: we are well fed with a good roof over our heads, the wife and children are properly clothed, and my little business has been managing quite well. But, I digress from the intent of this thread! Sorry, just feeling the need to vent since I am still stewing over one of these comments made this past Sunday. Thanks all for your indulgence.

Mychael

[macwilkin]

My wife has the Scots blood with a nearly equal portion of Ulster tossed in for good measure- kilts have always appealed to her.

Ironically, they are one in the same!

Cheers,

T.