Women in Kilts...

[McRoy]

I'm probably going to get flamed and called narrow minded and all that, but I find it odd to see a woman in a Kilt. I have no issues with tartan skirts or dresses, but feel Kilts are best left to the Lads and not for Lassies. To me a woman in a Kilt looks like she's wearing a shirt anyhow so wondering what's the point? Perhaps it's just me, but I find it just wrong to see a woman in a man's Kilt.

[Hawk]

Ok ladies, I'm stepping aside and taking cover now.....comence.......

Hawk

[ratspike]

I think women look fantastic in kilts, tartan or otherwise. Athletes, pipers, Utilikililties, steampunks, it's all equally fabulous in my book. Mini kilts however, just don't do anything for me at all.

[Pleater]

In the UK women and girls have worn kilts since it was allowable for them to show that they had legs - and probably before then on the sly.

The kilts I wore to go to school over 60 years ago (I was 5 or 6 years old) were 'hand me downs' then, and the straps were worn out so my mother converted them to fasten with buttons. They fastened on the right, as kilts are like kimonos, they don't reverse fastenings.

I have seen occasional proofs of this in old pictures, knitting patterns and films.

Naturally adult women did not show their knees, the kilts were made 27 inches long - half the 54inch width of the fabric. They were worn with petticoats, of course.

A common accessory was a knitted bolero or waistcoat, usually over a blouse, often a rather fancy one with embroidery or lace.

Somewhere I have seen a reference to little old grannies getting on busses - in Edinburgh, I think - wearing long kilts - I wish I could find it again.....

Naturally if the kilt is worn as a band uniform which was devised with men in mind the effect would be rather butch unless there are alterations made for the ladies.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Father Bill]

Gee. I just think women look great. Period.

[hector]

Please leave us males at least this garment for ourselves. Dear ladies you may keep your dresses and skirts. For the rest equality in everything.

[McClef]

I don't seem to see many examples of ladies in gentlemen's kilts outside of pipe bands where equality has to trump other factors in favour of uniformity and quality of playing.

Outside of that ladies have a wider variety of choice of how to wear tartan, including the conventions of which way the apron closes.

I don't see it as a really big issue.

[Father Bill]

Actually, in general I find that men's clothing looks better on women than it does on men. I think there's a reason for that.

[OC Richard]

All female Highland dancers (and they outnumber male dancers, what, 50 to 1?) wear traditional kilts made exactly as mens kilts have long been made. The Art Of Kiltmaking stresses that fact.

One sees hundreds of females in traditional (male) kilts at every Highland Games: dancers, pipers, drummers, fiddlers, and many others. (I hesitate to include athletes because they all, men and women, tend to wear 'sport kilts' rather than traditional kilts.)

In the Pipe Band world there has been a tremendous sea-change in the status of women over the last 30 or 40 years. Women in the old days played in "bands of their own" which were usually called "Ladies" pipe bands. They wore ordinary (mens) kilts and sporrans but usually wore frilly lace blouses, velvet jackets, and the special odd buckled shoes which I've only seen in that context.

When men and women began playing together in bands the women, at first, retained some or all of their 'Ladies Pipe Band' kit but this of course worked against uniformity. For many years now men and women have worn the same kit in bands.

A "Ladies Pipe Band" back in the day



Nowadays everyone in the same kit

[okiwen]

I really would like to own some of those kilt hose those women were wearing. They look great. Personally, I like the picture that was shown much better. Not so "matchy, matchy."