"LONG JOHNS" with a KILT ????

[Wompet]

• Military weight kilt - What Price Glory, surplus, eBay, that retailer Rigged posted the other day ...
  Heavy weight wool hose, unrolled up over the knees as necessary
  Loose underwear, that will cover but allow ventilation, if he decides to go that route.

I've spent the last few winters out and about in kilts, sometimes a couple of hours at a time, and the only times going non-regimental would have been more comfortable were when I was wearing a non-traditional kilt (UK or 5-yd PV).
NOTE: I've been comfortable in a 5-yd, 13 oz kilt in 20°F/-7°C weather.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Check out the UnderArmor web site. They have pretty much what you'll need.

[EagleJCS]

I'll second the bicycle/lycra shorts idea. I've been out piping in cold (38 deg F), blustery, damp weather for 3-4 hours and not had a problem keeping 'certain areas' warm when wearing such shorts under a 13-oz kilt. Wear a second pair of socks (long athletic tube socks) under your hose as well. (That'll help with 'wind chill'). The knees got cold, the toes got cold (especially after they got wet), the fingers got cold, the ears got cold (Glengarry), but everything else was OK.

[Charlie]

If it feels really cold I will wear flesh coloured tights (pantihose) with my woolen socks. No one will notice and I dont care

[gilmore]

If it feels really cold I will wear flesh coloured tights (pantihose) with my woolen socks. No one will notice and I dont care

There is precedent for this. It is said that George IV wore pink tights under his kilt during his famous visit to Edinburgh that was coordinated by Sir Walter Scott and lead to the revival of the wearing of the kilt and of Highland dress.

[BoldHighlander]

There is precedent for this. It is said that George IV wore pink tights under his kilt during his famous visit to Edinburgh that was coordinated by Sir Walter Scott and lead to the revival of the wearing of the kilt and of Highland dress.

On Saturday afternoon, 17 August (1822), the King attended a short Levee at Holyrood Palace, where the great and good queued to be greeted by George in his Highland outfit complete with pink pantaloons to conceal his bloated legs, described as "buff coloured trowsers like flesh to imitate his Royal knees". When someone complained that the kilt had been too short for modesty, Lady Hamilton-Dalrymple wittily responded "Since he is to be among us for so short a time, the more we see of him the better."


Sir David Wilkie's flattering portrait, painted in 1829, of King George IV in kilt during the visit to Scotland in 1822 with lighting chosen to tone down the brightness of his kilt and his knees shown bare, without the pink tights he wore at the event.


Contemporary caricature of King George IV in kilt during the Visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822.

Image & above text from The King's Jaunt, John Prebble, Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh 2000, ISBN 1-84158-068-6

[Mr.Charles Anthony]

To the Readers:
A short Historical Note is due here, for the sake of discussion. During the War of the American Revolution, the Scots soldiers in the Army of Genl. Burgoyne, made their kilts into 'ploid trews '(plaid trousers). It seems the Canadian, New York Winters were a bit cold.
Conversely, the Garrison Scots troops in Maine, kept the Great Kilt for winter, and the wee kilt for summer, generally.
And, why cut off the legs of the Long Johns? Just wear the whole thing(which I have am doing just now, Fall is cold in the Maine Woods.
The Thoughts of
C.Anthony

[Lachlan07]

Hi there.

Trade secret coming up ! My Great Uncle David Robertson (S/9365) served as L/Cpl with the 8th Batt Black Watch, 9th Scottish Div in the Great War. At home we still have his YMCA letter from the Western Front, sent home to his parents in Musselburgh, Midlothian dated December 1915. Apart from family questions home, Dave mentioned in the one-page letter that he was stationed in a sap (a cul-de-sac length of trench dug out from the main trench into No-Man's Land as a listening-post). He mentioned the intense, bitter cold, being stationary, cold and damp in a trench in mid-winter for days at a time. He then asked his mother to send over his old gardening trousers, so he could cut them off at the knees to wear under his kilt !

In fact, an order of 1916 ordered Highland battalions to wear standard British khaki issue long trousers and puttees during the coldest part of winter. Various photos show Highlanders in trousers in winter. (Apart from that, of course, transport personnel of Highland regiments always wore trousers.)

Great Uncle Dave didn't have to suffer every winter like that. He was killed on the first day of the Third Battle of The Scarpe/Arras, on 3rd May 1917, when his battalion and division took their turn to assault the Chemical Works at Roeux. He has no known grave, but is mentioned on Panel 6 of the Arras Memorial.

[turpin]

I say "man up" and wear the kilt like you're supposed to. Admittedly, sometimes when I'm outside in a kilt and it's below freezing (like, 50 or 60 below freezing) I'll pull the rolled-down part of my hose up until I get inside...but only when it's really cold.

I agree with Greg here. Unless you plan to spend all day outdoors at a low level of exertion (like the Great Uncle above in a WWI trench), the kilt, warm hos, and good trunk and head coverings should be more than sufficient. I walked about 2 miles at nite in Park City Utah, 8 degrees, calm air, and just got chilly at the knees. If you are in and out of stores, restaurants, etc. you should be fine. wort comes to worst, undies for the package and pull up the hose.

[BoldHighlander]

I agree with Greg here. Unless you plan to spend all day outdoors at a low level of exertion (like the Great Uncle above in a WWI trench), the kilt, warm hos, and good trunk and head coverings should be more than sufficient. I walked about 2 miles at nite in Park City Utah, 8 degrees, calm air, and just got chilly at the knees. If you are in and out of stores, restaurants, etc. you should be fine. wort comes to worst, undies for the package and pull up the hose.

I know where Puffer's friend is heading, up into the Cascade Mountains, to a festival that is held out doors (& it is a low level exertion event). It's easy to say "Man up" but if your not use to wearing a kilt in the conditions offered up this time of year in our mountains, then I don't blame the gentleman for the desire to have some extra protection.