Wearing A Kilt On Halloween

[Ivor]

Reading this thread brought to mind an incident when I was in a Target store in Florida just before Halloween. There, on the shelves, were dress-up costumes for DOGS! Yes DOGS. I must admit a fellow shopper was similarly bemused so my reaction was shared by this local also. I do hope that no-one considers dressing in a kilt for Halloween as a fancy dress outing and see an earlier post by a Scottish gentleman who shared that sentiment. Being new to this it all seems so confusing. One minute I read how circumspect I must be down to such simple things as the socks to wear and the next it seems anything goes!

[Nomad]

Reading this thread brought to mind an incident when I was in a Target store in Florida just before Halloween. There, on the shelves, were dress-up costumes for DOGS! Yes DOGS. I must admit a fellow shopper was similarly bemused so my reaction was shared by this local also. I do hope that no-one considers dressing in a kilt for Halloween as a fancy dress outing and see an earlier post by a Scottish gentleman who shared that sentiment. Being new to this it all seems so confusing. One minute I read how circumspect I must be down to such simple things as the socks to wear and the next it seems anything goes!

I can understand your confusion and I would love to say there is a simple answer but there isn't. I spent around 3 months going through most of the forums getting a feel for things.
I may have been born and spent my first 19 years in Scotland, but I am southern scots and kilts were only worn at official functions and that was a rarity in my childhood/adolescence.
Things have changed back home and kilts are commonly worn at official functions, but not otherwise, but that doesn't mean they are worn well, which is why I spent so much time on here "doing research".
I would thoroughly recommend going back through some of the older discussions on here, whilst I have flexible views on wearing a kilt I do think some things just look better if rules/guidelines are followed, then do some experimentation to see if it works.

Good luck

[Bluethunder90]

I do think some things just look better if rules/guidelines are followed, then do some experimentation to see if it works.

Good luck

Sound advice!

[Ivor]

Thanks for your advice, Nomad, and I am hoping to pick up as much good advice as possible here. The more I read the more I am confused, however, and a bit more time may be needed before I take the plunge. My wife is, like yourself, from a lowland Scottish background and has some knowledge from relatives so can be some help and would love me tonwear the kilt. Again it would probably be for special occasions as I really don’t see me as a Welshman wearing a kilt day to day but Rugby matches - well that’s something else. I will keep reading on here and asking questions when I need some advice.

[DanRatcliffe]

As far as I am concerned, it is not any different than jeans and a cowboy hat. Like all costumes, some will like it, some won't. Do what you want, some people will give you compliments, some will not or speak against you.

I should have added I were my kilt relatively often. I do get asked what is happening, a wedding, a parade, etc.? Many times I just reply, it is Friday, or Monday, or,or, or.

[WalesLax]

Going back to BlueThunder's original question, I will relay this about myself. I don't regularly wear a kilt, but do wear one every time I pipe, some of the time when I practice, always to highland games, generally for black-tie/formal functions, and occasionally other times.

The first time I wore a kilt in public was St. Patrick's Day. I had wanted a kilt but really didn't know a ton about them, so I did some poor research and bought one off eBay. I didn't know how people would react to seeing me in it, so I figured St. Patrick's Day would be a great time to try wearing it, see what people said and see how I felt. I did the same that year on Halloween.

To OP BlueThunder's point, I wore it those days because id people were @-holes to me, I could pass it off as "well, I'm just in the spirit of the day." Contrary to what I had expected, I got mostly very positive reactions, which is what led to me researching kilts more in depth, finding this site, buying better ones and wearing them more often.

I have since passed that original kilt on to someone who had a similar thought, tried it, liked it, bought a nicer one, and passed the original on to someone who had a similar thought. At this point, that "Halloween Kilt" has influenced and converted at least three people, possibly others who saw me wearing it.

I have worn kilts on Halloween since then, but I think it's always been as part of a costume - rugby fan, David Livingstone, John Jameson (blows people's mind that he was Scottish, not Irish), etc. Again, I've always worn it nicely/appropriately.

To that end, I say that if you are looking for a day to try it out and see how you feel, Halloween or St. Patrick's Day give you a good opportunity to do so with a safety net.

RR

[PatrickHughes123]

Going back to BlueThunder's original question, I will relay this about myself. I don't regularly wear a kilt, but do wear one every time I pipe, some of the time when I practice, always to highland games, generally for black-tie/formal functions, and occasionally other times.

The first time I wore a kilt in public was St. Patrick's Day. I had wanted a kilt but really didn't know a ton about them, so I did some poor research and bought one off eBay. I didn't know how people would react to seeing me in it, so I figured St. Patrick's Day would be a great time to try wearing it, see what people said and see how I felt. I did the same that year on Halloween.

To OP BlueThunder's point, I wore it those days because id people were @-holes to me, I could pass it off as "well, I'm just in the spirit of the day." Contrary to what I had expected, I got mostly very positive reactions, which is what led to me researching kilts more in depth, finding this site, buying better ones and wearing them more often.

I have since passed that original kilt on to someone who had a similar thought, tried it, liked it, bought a nicer one, and passed the original on to someone who had a similar thought. At this point, that "Halloween Kilt" has influenced and converted at least three people, possibly others who saw me wearing it.

I have worn kilts on Halloween since then, but I think it's always been as part of a costume - rugby fan, David Livingstone, John Jameson (blows people's mind that he was Scottish, not Irish), etc. Again, I've always worn it nicely/appropriately.

To that end, I say that if you are looking for a day to try it out and see how you feel, Halloween or St. Patrick's Day give you a good opportunity to do so with a safety net.

RR

I agree with St. Patrick's Day but not Halloween. If you want a safety net that is free of controversy, you might consider Burns Night and St. Andrews Day. Or if you wanted to wear it more often with safety nets, consider birthdays/death days of Scottish kings and queens, battle anniversaries, etc. You can always, if asked, say "Oh! It's the day that..." or "On this date... This battle took place at...".

[OC Richard]

As far as I am concerned, it is not any different than jeans and a cowboy hat.

Once again it's interesting to hear Highland Dress placed in the wider notion of cultural appropriation and cultural stereotypes.

For a good chunk of my youth I wore cowboy boots, jeans, and a cowboy hat as my everyday dress. Many people wear Western Wear as a matter of course. It strikes me as odd to see such ordinary clothes treated as "costume".

[fw_kilt]

And, dang, I was gonna to go as a cowboy!

[Tobus]

Once again it's interesting to hear Highland Dress placed in the wider notion of cultural appropriation and cultural stereotypes.

For a good chunk of my youth I wore cowboy boots, jeans, and a cowboy hat as my everyday dress. Many people wear Western Wear as a matter of course. It strikes me as odd to see such ordinary clothes treated as "costume".

Now we're getting down to the crux of the matter! That is precisely what makes a "costume" in this particular context: the wearing of clothing that represents a character, group, ethnicity, lifestyle, or profession that isn't part of one's normal life or cultural background; it's dressing up in someone else's style of clothing. As a Texan, I can (and do) wear jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat and it's just regular clothing like many people around here wear. And in fact, for some of my activities, it would be odd not to wear it. A chap in Germany, with no ties to US western culture, could wear the same thing but it would be a "costume" if it's not the clothing he regularly wears. Everybody's clothing is a "costume" to someone else around the world.

The kilt is one of the world's most recognisable garments which teeters perilously on the edge of costumery. This is the reason so many people question the wearer's motive or background when they see it being worn in public. They need to make sense of it, and their question (in whatever form it takes) is to determine whether it's being worn as a costume or for a "legitimate" (in their view) reason.