Quote Originally Posted by Micric View Post
Going back to your original questions Woodshiel;

I'd think kilts may have died out quite rapidly after the '45.
To wear one after that time, could mark a man as a "Highland rebel" ...even if he'd never been 'out'.
So, If a man Was a jackobite, he'd have a vested interest in concealing the fact, and if he Wasn't he'd not want to be implicted by dressing like one.
Makes sense to me, even if I'm wrong!
Again, the topic is the decline of the kilt as every-day wear in the Scottish highlands, not N. America...!

I don't think the above-mentioned "Highland rebel" theory works. The majority of highlanders either opposed or sat out the '45. The Jacobites' sense of grievance made out the Proscription to be worse than it was. There are plenty of Proscription-period portraits, drawings, paintings, etc. that reveal that highland dress was alive and well even before the repeal. The Act was not vigorously enforced beyond cities and towns, and non-Jacobite or neutral clans were pretty much left alone. Might an ex-Jacobite wish to conceal his past transgressions? I suppose, but that couldn't be a significant factor during the following decades.

I also find the notion odd that the kilt declined due to its impracticality. In towns and factories, sure, but in the remote and rustic Highlands themselves? Celts - known throughout Europe for their trousers! - arrived in the Scottish Highlands and switched to going bare-legged there because of the unique terrain conditions encountered, not in spite of them....