Two Telling comments? The Answer Perhaps?

[cessna152towser]

I agree with Jock and Steve here. Wearing a kilt on the street here in Scotland midweek I have often been taken for an American tourist.
The kilt is neither the most comfortable or practical garment for many activities.
For casual wear during warm summer weather I have found the Utility kilt style with pockets and no sporran is a comfortable alternative to shorts, yet non-trad kilts haven't caught on as mainstream wear here in Scotland where there is still an assumption that kilts should be tartan and are only for more formal occasions or for following the national soccer and rugby teams.

[MacKenzie]

Interesting. Jock, you (and others) have danced all around it before, but just hadn't actually stepped on it. In fact, just the other night, after reading some comments on the other thread I told The Redhead that, "I believe Scots don't wear the kilt in Scotland because they're afraid they'll be taken for a tourist."

Or go to the Edinburgh Tattoo. I liken that to, many years ago, when I lived just outside Colonial Williamsburg. The LAST thing I wanted to do was go to Colonial Williamsburg.

[thecompaqguy]

The issue of anyone wearing the kilt in England doesn't have the same response, so I edited what I posted earlier...

Anyway, I think I throw people a curveball being a man of colour... Today, I dropped in on the Harpenden Highland Gathering, I was expecting to see perhaps 25 to 30% of the crowd who went to watch kilted... it was a sea of shorts and jeans, and aside from those running a stall, or pipers either playing or taking a break. Granted, I should have mine on (I was going to wear my black & white Menzies tartan, but I was working 'on call' and railway stations don't take kindly to kilts as it's not part of Health& Safety workwear if you're working near the track, or , bending down to fix equipment )... so I decided to forego the kilt this time... I packed it in the car, but there's no place to change into a kilt... Perhaps next year... I met Chas, but I don't know who else from the Forum dropped by...

[MacMillans son]

Could it be the dilution of tradition over time Jock? As the younger generations get further from their own heritage, and by many Scot's admission, a heritage that is seen less and less, save for a couple of special gigs a year, the opportunity for the caricature Scot, as defined by others, increases. When tourists wearing the kilt far outnumber the natives in kilts, it is easy to see why the native would make the correlation to the tourist.

I assume this will continue at a somewhat exponential rate, as the result of a self-fulfilling prophesy. The less Scots wear the kilt to avoid looking like tourists, the greater the percentage of kilts seen are on tourists (and we all know how well most pull that look off ). Add to that the natural age related decline of a generation of native kilt wearers and, voila!, Harry meets Sally at your kitchen table.

I fear that pretty soon we'll have to send a contingent of Xmarks members to retrain the native population on their own traditions, based on what some old farmer name "Jock Scot" told us.

Best to you and yours,
Brooke

[TheOfficialBren]

It's also likely related to the Highland/Lowland divide that's always existed in Scotland. As Neil Oliver once said, "the two often don't understand one another."

[Jack Daw]

When I first went to Scotland back in 2003, I was warned by an American kilt-wearer, who had been to Scotland 14 times before me, not to take my kilt unless I was attending an event that was specific to the kilt, otherwise I may be taken for a tourist by the locals. So, I didn't pack it. In 2008, I took my niece to Argyll for the Worldwide Gathering of Clan MacIntyre, that called for a kilt on two evenings. I admit, I felt more self-conscious about wearing the kilt than I did at home.

To turn the story around a bit, on another occasion, I had to meet a colleague who was from the New York office of our bank. He had never been to Texas before, but he showed up wearing a broad-brimmed hat (a straw in winter), a western shirt, a "string" tie, standard business suit, and some strange boots. By trying to fit in, he got the stereotype wrong and looked the odd duck instead.

[tulloch]

I believe we are over-thinking the issue. I do not dress for what I imagine others are thinking. Although aware of what may be viewed as novelty, eccentricity, or rebellion I do wear what I like. Life is too short to dress for (possibly erroneous) imagined views of others. I love my kilts. I love how they feel when I stand and walk in them. I do not like wearing them when I will be sitting for a long while. I would not wear pants climbing and hiking. Last summer I was privileged to visit Glasgow for two weeks. I wore my kilt all the time. Next time I go I will make one change - I will bring my arch supports. My feet were killing me after all that walking.

[S Mitchell]

I can understand why locals, in any location, wouldn't want to be taken for tourists; although, there isn't anything intrinsically wrong with being a tourist.

It's kind of a Catch-22 situation, but, were Scots to wear the kilt more frequently, it wouldn't take long for a recognizable local style to emerge - an authentic, local, daily mode of wear, and you'd still be able to tell the locals from the tourists, kilted and otherwise.

In the US, it's usually easy to spot tourists from abroad, even when they're not wearing tourist bric-a-brac, because there are subtle differences in the their clothing and mannerisms. Plus, people on vacation have a different energy about them.

Here in Arizona, in the more touristy areas, it's even often possible to spot tourists from the midwest or the east coast for the same reasons.

I like the previously mentioned suggestion of Scots taking to wearing the kilt to "Show them how it's done."

[Lodrorigdzin]

That IMO is also the resistance against non-Scots wearing kilts: because it's seen out-scotting the true Scots, so to speak.

[Nathan]

Thanks for the interesting thread, Jock!

The "looking like a tourist" angle is certainly one worth exploring and I'm sure that there are those that feel that way.

I am personally always surprised when people ask, why the Scots don't wear the kilt as every day clothing more often. Why would they?

I don't wear my kilt daily although I wear it more frequently than most. Most Scottish Cape Bretoners would never consider wearing a kilt "just because". Most don't own one and to do so would be to demand attention and that, I'm afraid, is not in the character of the majority of folks.

I'll over state this to make my point, just in case some native-born Scots have encountered a similar perspective. The working-class Highland people of Cape Breton are a somewhat modest bunch. They don't have a lot of time for show offs, dandies or braggarts. They are happy to see someone with a talent share it, but not so impressed by someone who talks about their proficiency are shows off their wealth conspicuously if they are lucky enough to have some etc...

The overstated bit is that the kilt and one's clan tartan is viewed as an *almost* sacred thing by a lot of these folks. Having one made would be a monumental event in someone's life and wearing it wouldn't be taken lightly. It certainly isn't viewed as just another set of clothes. There is no reason these coal miners, farmers, fishermen, teachers, former steel workers etc... would feel the need to "dress up" in Highland attire just to go about their lives.

For an occasion, that's another story. A Masonic lodge event for members of the Scottish rite, a day at the Highland Games, perhaps a wedding, prom or New Year's dance would all be times when dressing up in one's finest would be considered appropriate and if the kilt is your finest, why not! A ceilidh is a much less formal affair and people would be wearing their regular casual street clothes.

The kilt wouldn't be most people's first choice for fixing fishing gear, bringing in hay, shoveling their driveway or cleaning out their shed. They wouldn't strap it on to go to the local tavern or to buy their groceries.

In fact, the only daily kilt wearer that I've encountered in Cape Breton is an American gent who purchased land along the Cabot Trail and had a shop selling souvenirs and militaria. Perhaps it's still open, I'm not sure. Even the kilted regiment only wears the kilt with parade dress and wears combats (fatigues for the Americans, number 8 dress for the Brits). The kilt is comparatively uncomfortable and impractical.

In parts of Cape Breton you'll see Gaelic street signs, Celtic crosses in the cemeteries, memorial cairns, and tartan and thistles on a good many signs and logos but kilts wouldn't be viewed as practical or in any respect "normal". They wouldn't be affordable to many and the wearing of one without an occasion or a reason would be looked upon by most as a desperate cry for attention.

Not sure they'd think you were a tourist, but they'd certainly think you were an odd duck.

So is it possible that a lot of Scots would also view wearing the kilt out and about as showing off or looking for attention?