Quote Originally Posted by The Scotsman View Post
And it is in equally bad taste to wear a kilt in the tartan of a clan to which one does not belong.
I just want to mention a couple of anecdotes that I think are illustrative here.

Many years ago I happened upon a lovely old MacGregor tartan kilt on Ebay that was just my size. It was a vintage kilt, nice heavy weight cloth. I believe the minimum opening bid was something to the effect of $75. This was before I was making kilts myself, and as someone who wore kilts on a near-daily basis for work, I was looking for a way to inexpensively expand my kilt wardrobe. So I placed the one and only bid on this beauty. And I won a wonderful vintage MacGregor kilt for a pittance!

Problem is.... I'm not a MacGregor. Nor do I claim to be one.

I don't wear this kilt that often any more -- partly because my kilt wardrobe has expanded quite a bit since I learned to make my own. Partly because it is an older kilt and I don't really want to wear it out. And partly, yes, because I'm not a MacGregor and therefore the tartan doesn't have any personal signifigance to me.

But back when I was starting out, it was a good decent kilt that I found at a price I could afford. Sure, for the same price I could have gotten a cheap poly-acrylic Asian import, but because I wasn't too picky on the tartan, I was able to have a nice, well made, authentically Scottish kilt to wear.

Anyway, that's how I acquired said kilt. Now there are two stories of me wearing it that are relevant to this thread. First, shortly after I acquired this kilt I wore it to the Stone Mountain Highland Games. A gaggle of MacGregors were walking past me and saw me in the kilt. They called me over, and told me they were gathering up for the parade of the clans, and they invited me to march with them. I thanked them and respectfully declined, because, as I told them, I was not actually a MacGregor. I had purchased the kilt second-hand. They didn't blink an eye. In fact, they said they didn't care if I was a MacGregor or not, they wanted all the MacGregor tartan kilts they could find on parade! I still had to decline their offer because I was needed elsewhere. But such was the reaction of a large group of Scottish-American clansmen to someone not of their clan wearing their tartan.

Fast forward to the same Highland Games at Stone Mountain, this time in 2008. The honored guest is Capt. Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor and his wife Fiona MacGregor (nee Armstrong). On this occasion I was wearing my Armstrong kilt, which as I explained earlier in this thread I have maternal ties to. Lady Fiona's maiden name was Armstrong, and when I met the couple that started a conversation on its own.

In any case, the MacGregors were going to be staying in the area for the next week, and I invited them to come see the Scottish Tartans Museum during their stay. They graciously accepted, and a few days after the Games I had the opportunity to play host to the chief of the MacGregor clan and his wife. What kilt did I wear to welcome them? My old vintage MacGregor kilt!


During his visit we had a rather lengthy conversation about tartans. Sir Malcolm is actually one of the few clan cheifs who has taken the time and effort to study the subject of tartan and has some rather well formed opinions on the tartans of his clan (which you can read about on his clan society's page). I admitted to him frankly that I had no blood ties at all to the MacGregors, but that I decided to wear the MacGregor tartan that day in honor of his visit. He had no problem with me wearing it, in fact he was honored.

If you look closely in the above photo, you may notice that the MacGregor is actually wearing - gasp! - trousers! He had dressed comfortably for the car trip, and actually joked when we were taking the photo that anyone looking at it would assume that of the two of us, I was the clan chief!

Point is that this native Scot, this Highland chief no less!, and one who cares enough about the history and traditions of his own clan tartan to study the matter and form an educated opinion, had no problem at all with this non-clan member wearing the tartan in honor of his visit.