The Irish kilt became popularized in the 1880’s by the Gaelic League and Irish patriots like Padraig Pearse, Bernard FitzPatrick, Eamonn Ceannt, Douglas Hyde, and Pierce O’Mahony. The most common and widely recognized is the solid colored saffron kilt as worn by Bernard FitzPatrick and Pierce O’Mahoney while campaigning for home rule in Parliament in the 1880’s, by Douglas Hyde at his inauguration as the first President of Ireland in 1938, and by the pipers of the Irish Defense Forces and the Royal Irish Regiment today. Self-colored kilts in dark greens, blues, and reds used to be popular with male Irish dancers, but have fallen out of fashion since Michael Flatley. While the saffron kilt is considered a form of Irish national dress, keep in mind that was a political choice by Irish nationalists for political reasons, not a historical form of ethnic Irish dress; there actually is no tradition of kilt wearing in Ireland among the general public.
I wear the saffron, but I'd like a rifle green one too someday.
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