21st Century kilts, or Utilikilts?

[OC Richard]

Here on the USA west coast I had seen firsthand the appearance of the Utilikilt and the immediate impact it had on kiltwearing here.

The year was 2000. A guy in Seattle, Steven Villegas, created a new sort of garment and dubbed it the Utilikilt. It sort of followed the flat apron in front, pleated in back format of the kilt but took cues from trousers like side and back pockets and being held up by a belt going through belt-loops all around. The narrow front aprons fastened with a series of snaps/poppers and there were huge cargo pockets on each side.

He adamant from the get-go that his creation wasn't a Scottish kilt and had nothing to do with Highland Dress. Generally made from black, blue, or tan denim, he also offered them in camouflage and Hawai'ian prints, but stated that he would absolutely never make one in tartan.

I remember seeing them for the first time, at a Highland Games, where he had set up a Utilikilt booth. It was packed with customers, he sold tons of them that weekend.

Within a couple years we saw more people wearing Utilikilts than kilts at our local Highland Games.

He sold 750 Utilikilts in 2000. He sold 11,000 in 2003.

Within a few years his invention was being widely copied by firms in the USA, Scotland, and Pakistan.

That was the whole story, I thought. But hold on, then on another thread here I found out about Howie Nicholsby. I'd heard about and seen 21st Century Kilts in Edinburgh but I hadn't realised that Nicholsby's creation predated Utilikilts by four years.

Nicholsby comes from a long line of traditional tailors and kiltmakers. His great-grandfather was a tailor for Forsyths in Princes Street, his grandmother was a kiltmaker in the interwar years, and of course his father is a tailor and founder of the Edinburgh firm Geoffrey Tailor.

Nicholsby says that for his sister's wedding in 1996 he decided to have a different sort of kilt made. He wanted a traditional 8-yard kilt, but have it made from "silver snakeskin PVC" that he had bought in London.

This led him to found 21st Century Kilts, a firm-within-a-firm. He's dressed many celebrities who have been attracted to the unique look of his creations.

Still, Nicholsby's work is quite different to Villegas' in that he makes what are essentially traditional kilts of nontraditional fabrics, though often with enormous detached pockets (or whatever those are) on the sides.

Here on the left are three Howie Nicholsby 21 Century Kilts outfits, and on the right are two Steven Villegas Utilikilts.

[TheVintageLibertine]

Yes, the square shapes on the brown tweed(?) and Lovat green kilts are detachable pockets, fixed in place with buttons. Howie Nicholsby says the pockets aren’t meant to be worn in formal settings.

The pockets are not exactly the most clean look, but I can see the utility for casual settings. In suit or black tie mode, I put my wallet and cellphone in my coat pockets, then use my sporran for miscellaneous items, like keychain, car-key-fob, etc. Personally, in casual modes without a coat, I always struggle fitting everything into my sporran.

[bookish]

I'm not really a fan of the Utilikilt. If I have learned anything from watching Project Runway, designers hate "costume." This is a nebulous term which could be employed to present personal taste as an objective fact. So, when I say that the Utilikilt looks too much like costume, I realize that I'm entering unstable ground for objective defense. Especially when Highland wear already stands out among current fashion trends and conventions, and can appear to other eyes to be costume in and of itself. Perhaps it is better to say that the Utilikilt lacks restraint.

As for 21st century kilts, these kilts are simpler. They seem to have the classic silhouette. To my eye they appear to be worn a little lower on the waist, but that could simply be a matter of style and the effect of the external pockets vs wearing the sporran. I do wonder if it's the "attitude" of the kilt itself.

Honestly, I'd love to see one close-up, and a side-by-side comparison with a more "traditional" kilt.

[Pleater]

I have been told that the waist measurement on Utilikilts is large in proportion to the hips by several dancers in Border Morris sides who's kit is basically black. That might explain why they sit lower.
The men appreciate the ventilation when dancing in warm weather.

There are quite a few lads from Kernow (Cornwall)who wear black kilts, some with the addition of a white cross and in recent years I have come across Cornish Border morris sides - border morris is spreading - the border referred to in the name is the Welsh/English one, so further north than Cornwall, but these days young men seem to require a little encouragement to go around in groups being noisy playing music and banging sticks together outside a pub. Not like in my day.

Anne the Pleater

[John_Carrick]

I called into 21st Century Kilts in Edinburgh sometime before the pandemic and Howie was there. A very personable gentleman, full of good advice, I was very tempted to invest in one of his lovely tweed kilts and possibly the jacket as well. Maybe I shall sometime. You are very much in a professional tailor's hands, albeit it with a very contemporary and occasionally flamboyant style.

I was never that enamoured of Utilikilts but decided to order a beige chino-coloured one about four years ago. When it arrived, my idea of a 37 inch waist differed from theirs and I couldn't even do it up. Rather than make efforts to return it to the States, it has languished at the back of the wardrobe ever since.
Thanks to weight loss injections, I decided to try it on today and it now fits. Not at all smart but quite comfy, it might do on a particular type of occasion.

But one-nil to Mr Nicolsby without a doubt.

[jsrnephdoc]

I was never that enamoured of Utilikilts but decided to order a beige chino-coloured one about four years ago. When it arrived, my idea of a 37 inch waist differed from theirs and I couldn't even do it up. Rather than make efforts to return it to the States, it has languished at the back of the wardrobe ever since.
Thanks to weight loss injections, I decided to try it on today and it now fits. Not at all smart but quite comfy, it might do on a particular type of occasion.

I suspect soon we'll see musical ballads toasting the talents of Ozempic (semaglutide). Even Rabbie Burns might have difficulty creating a rhyming couplet, however.

I tell people wondering how I slimmed down that the major downside is that Ozempic makes me think I must have a few second cousins who are ruminant mammals. Supposedly, there are better drugs in the pipeline that can still pare away the pounds but DON'T leave your mouth periodically reminded of what you swallowed as much as a dozen hours earlier.

I'm retired, so I cannot personally verify this, but in academic medicine there's a tradition for annual meetings that typically take place in enormous hotel ballrooms. The meetings typically end with fancy, high-Calorie gourmand banquets. They're typically "open seating" at round tables seating 8-10, where people who studied or did fellowships or junior faculty appointments renew old acquaintances.

Supposedly, the people renewing those friendships Increasingly realize that everyone around the table is suddenly just "smaller," and the servers tend to remove the plates sill encumbered by uneaten delicacies.

In my case, shedding 30 pounds with no effort beyond finding opportunities to burp without embarrassing myself has NOT prevented my kills from heading "south" with no good place to perch, so even after straps are moved as much as possible I STILL need suspenders ("braces" I'm told, in the UK), and the front aprons tend to wave a bit rather than lying flat against my reduced circumference.

[OC Richard]

In suit or black tie mode, I put my wallet and cellphone in my coat pockets, then use my sporran for miscellaneous items, like keychain, car-key-fob, etc.

Personally, in casual modes without a coat, I always struggle fitting everything into my sporran.

A few years ago I visited the Ohio Scottish Games and discovered that every beer booth had the same three horrid offerings. No outside beverages were allowed.

I had come prepared. In my car was a cooler stocked with superb local IPA, and I entered the grounds with a 16 ounce can tucked in my capacious sporran. (I could carry two 16 ounce cans if I had my wallet and phone in my waistcoat pockets, which I did do later that day.)



(At the West Virginia Highland Games)

[OC Richard]

As for 21st century kilts, these kilts are simpler. They seem to have the classic silhouette. To my eye they appear to be worn a little lower on the waist, but that could simply be a matter of style and the effect of the external pockets vs wearing the sporran. I do wonder if it's the "attitude" of the kilt itself.

Honestly, I'd love to see one close-up, and a side-by-side comparison with a more "traditional" kilt.

I read some Nicholsby interviews and he's said things to the effect that his kilts are traditionally made kilts, but made from nontraditional fabrics.

I've got on my soapbox repeatedly about the issue of men wearing their kilts too low at the hips, and then noticing that their knees are covered and having their kilts shortened to compensate.

This results in adult kilts being made in lengths which up until recently would only have been seen in kilts made for youths.

So I was very pleased to hear Nicholsby say that "for a man around six foot a kilt should be 24 or 25 inches" which is in the realm of traditional kilt lengths.

I'm 6 foot 3 and I have my kilts made in a length of 25.5 inches.

[geomick]

A few years ago I visited the Ohio Scottish Games and discovered that every beer booth had the same three horrid offerings. No outside beverages were allowed.

I had come prepared. In my car was a cooler stocked with superb local IPA, and I entered the grounds with a 16 ounce can tucked in my capacious sporran. (I could carry two 16 ounce cans if I had my wallet and phone in my waistcoat pockets, which I did do later that day.)



(At the West Virginia Highland Games)

At two of the local Highland Games, they search sporrans to check for smuggled alcohol (probably expecting flasks instead of cans)

[SF Jeff]

At two of the local Highland Games, they search sporrans to check for smuggled alcohol (probably expecting flasks instead of cans)

I don't think I've ever been searched at games here in CA. Some don't even have security, just walk right in.

As for smuggling alcohol, you gotta do what you gotta do. My local ski resort has a vapid offering of beer at ridiculous prices, so i bring a can or two of the Elephant in a cooler and when I'm done skiing for the day, I go back to my car, grab a can, stick it in my ski jacket and walk back to the resort and enjoy a real beer.