Took the plunge and went public in my kilt

[hector]

'...All in all it was a very positive experience. Most people though didn't bat an eyelid.'

I am going out kilted rather frequently. In the beginning I went to places where also tourists come and so I could 'hide myself’ and be seen as 'a Scottish tourist'. That was my trick to build confidence. All timidity is gone now and I wear my kilt anywhere.
The more you do it the easier it will become.
In my three years’ experience I was asked several times (and always in a very friendly way) for having a picture of me or with me.
I only got twice a negative comment (once in my native town - a guy asking my wife is she was with 'her sister', and once somewhere in France someone called me 'mademoiselle').
A personal remark (which I know is not always shared) give the kilt the honor it deserves. By this I mean to dress up well when you wear it. For example, this is a picture of me going for a walk this week somewhere at the sea side.


I wish you many happy occasions to enjoy this beautiful garment!


http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/ve...tml?sort=3&o=1

[DWFII]

A personal remark (which I know is not always shared) give the kilt the honor it deserves. By this I mean to dress up well when you wear it. For example, this is a picture of me going for a walk this week somewhere at the sea side.

[kilted firefighter]

Congratulations. It gets easier/more relaxed with practice. I'm fairly new to the kilt as well and I'm frequently surprised by who I receive positive comments from. I've never gone out kilted and not received a compliment from at least one young lady, but also had positive comments from mowhawked young men, and camo clad country boys. Who would have thought?

[ForresterModern]

Popped my kilt cherry by wearing it to a pretty big local highland games when I lived in Phoenix. A Games gathering like that is a fairly safe place to do it because you will NOT feel like you stick out like a sore thumb, unless you put it on backwards or something like that. You are SUPPOSED to see kilted men and women at a highland games, heck they sell them there at the vendors booths most games. So it is much easier to settle into your own comfort wearing mode without feeling too self conscious (just the right amount of first time self consciousness). It also is a good place to get some ideas what other folks look like wearing kilts and which "looks" you like and which you don't desire to emulate. Be carefull about going too "whole hog" if you are wearing a personal clan tartan----go light on all clan logo/motto/badged items like belts, lapel pins, clan family t-shirts, matching tartan ties and such-----most newbies (myself included) generally order all the clan badged stuff like belt buckles, sporrans, kilt pins, sgian dubh, polo shirts, etc... and you start looking like a walking sales mannequin from your family clan scottish store. It can get a little clownish if you are not careful.
My funny story is that I wore my Forrester Modern tank to that first all day event, immediately after parking the car was already surrounded by a handful of other kilties in the parking lot before I even got in the gates. First kilted man my wife and I saw inside the gates was also wearing Forrester Modern, and we struck up a conversation about names and where we were originally from and such trying to see if there was any close family connection---he even had the same variation surname as me---but alas no connection found. I have been to dozens of games since then and, other than at the Stone Mountain games which our "clan" claims as its home games and where they have our "clan" annual meeting each fall, I have never seen another man or woman in Forrester modern tartan kilt since. It really is a pretty unusual tartan.
Welcome to the fold, friend. Kilted life, regardless of how frequently or where you choose to wear it, is good, and fun, and friendly, and a good way to get folks to open up and talk to you (get their pictures taken with you, tell you that you are wearing some accessory incorrectly, call it a skirt, get wolf whistles, have ladies give you looks your own mate may not appreciate, may even get you a free beer or dram or two on a new friend or the house). Yes, kilted life of any sort is good.
The other funny thing about that day is that we had bought an inexpensive infant kilt (velcro closure--also easier to change diapers) and my then 2 week old younger son (also know hereabouts as "The Boy") and I were both kilted for the first time in public together on the same day. Always more fun when you are not doing it alone. He sucked a lot of the attention off of my kilt wearing initiation.

[grizzbass]

it's the most fun a guy can have in public

[danielobvt]

First public outing for me was to the Calais Rod & Gun Club last Summer. I was surprised that no one batted an eye.
Mainers can be hard to get a rise out of, eh.

Gun people as a whole are generally hard to get a rise out of ("an armed society is a polite society"). Mostly they are there to maintain their skillset and on occasion check out the neat weapons that other people brought/are firing. Unless you violate the rules of gun handling or ignore directions from the RSO. Then you are a designated TRP.

I was in the grocery store last week (in tshirt, Sport Kilt (US Army tartan) and flip flops) and an older woman first asked "are you in a parade?" After I said no she said she loved the kilt and wished more people would wear them..

[Marine2141]

I went grocery shopping in my kilt (with sporran and hose w/flashes). One woman made a comment while I was grabbing a cart that she doesn't see a lot of kilts other than what her neighbor occasionally wears. Another woman approached me and asked if I was Scottish, to which I said that my family name is Hamilton, and she said hers was Stewart. It was a very cool experience!!

[Tarheel]

[QUOTE=danielobvt;1310270 I was in the grocery store last week (in tshirt, Sport Kilt (US Army tartan) and flip flops) and an older woman first asked "are you in a parade?" After I said no she said she loved the kilt and wished more people would wear them..[/QUOTE]

"Are you in a parade", made me snort. Thinking it through, you were parading about in your kilt.

Clarified: You don't have to be flamboyant to wear a kilt, something in the way a kilt makes one feel, tends to improve one's posture and ambience. Hence the "parading" comment from a non-kilted view point.

[MacPherson85]

I think it's great to wear kilts as often as the option presents itself. Way to go on breaking the seal of your kilt wearing to the public!!! The picture is of me in the middle and a couple of lads heading out to hand out clothes and food to the homeless, but we like to go out in 10 degree weather in our kilts and do it! lol.

[Angela Kaye Bodine]

Congratulations ! Good to hear :-)..Angie