Of course the details of the tailored kilt evolved over time. Waistbands, linings, straps and buckles were added as fashions changed. And what was worn with the kilt changed as well, to reflect the changing fashions of society. We will not delve into such matters as hose, sporrans, bonnets and the like here.
But what about the cloth the kilt is usually made from—the tartan? As stated earlier, archaeological evidence of tartan cloth being worn in Scotland dates from the third or fourth century AD. And the written record attests to tartan being especially characteristic of Highland clothing throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Yes, they likely had certain favorite patterns that they would produce on a regular basis, but they also like any artisan would like to be creative and come up with new, never before seen, individual designs.
Yes, they would certainly use a lot of the colors available with the natural dyes from the region, but they also would have access, through trade, to dyes and ingredients from other places. The association of names with tartan designs came about as a result of the industrialization of the weaving industry.
They were the only tartan firm licensed to provide cloth the Highland Regiments during the period of Proscription up till The need for mass production of cloth to fill large military orders led to the standardization of colors and patterns for the cloth. These standardized tartans were certainly in use by the s. At first these tartans were simply assigned numbers to identify one from another. At the end of the century family names began to be used, and this practice increased greatly in the early nineteenth century.
Marketing, as much as anything else. The names sell better. But just as no one today would assume that only people of Cherokee descent drive Jeep Cherokees, no one then believed that only MacDonalds could wear the MacDonald tartan. People would pick out a tartan to wear based on what they liked, not what their name or supposed ancestry was. At the same time, the small, practical leather sporran developed into a large, hairy, decorative affair. This early nineteenth-century military style was to have a lasting impact on civilian dress.
Several dress historians have claimed that Highland costume would not have survived in civilian form had the Highland regiments not been raised and uniformed in elements of their native dress. It was not until the twentieth century, however, that women embraced the kilt as fashionable attire.
After World War II, a simplified version of the kilt emerged in the form of a pleated, wraparound skirt belted at the waist and secured near the hem with a large pin. Many younger Scotsmen began to wear their kilts for everyday use with a T-shirt or sweater, a denim or leather jacket, trainers or chunky, heavy-soled boots, and wooly socks falling around the ankles.
Recently, the kilt has become popular among non-Scotsmen wishing to project a self-confidently fashionable image. This can be attributed, at least in part, to the immense success of such films as Rob Roy and Braveheart This image has been reinforced in the arena of sport, most obviously through the Highland Games, now broadcast around the world.
In events such as putting the shot, tossing the caber, and throwing the weight, they show men of obvious stamina competing in kilts. Most recently, however, the Highlander as a beau-ideal has been promoted by Scottish football supporters. Their tribal antics and kilted uniform received widespread publicity in France during the World Cup in the summer of Through such images, the kilt has come to represent a ready access to Highland male sexuality.
For non-Scotsmen, it provides the means of asserting a self-consciously yet unambiguously masculine persona. The first kilts were white, brown, green or black. Clanspeople used plants, mosses, and berries to dye the wool.
As time went on, they developed plaids for specific clans, the colors most likely based on which natural dyes were nearby. These plaids became known as tartan cloth. The belted plaid became popular for Highland men during the 17 th By , they were mostly worn for ceremonial events.
In Gaelic, it was called, breacan-an-feileadh or tartan wrap. Called an arisaid , it was worn down to the ankles, and made from white tartan cloth with a wide-spaced pattern. In the late 17 th century, the small kilt or phillabeg was first worn. This is the bottom half of the kilt, gathered into folds, belted at the waist, and falling just above the knee.
A separate piece of cloth was worn over the shoulder for protection and warmth. The cloth wrapped around and gathered into folds which stopped somewhere below the knee. Sometimes they also wore animal skin, especially deerskin. So how did the tailored, pleated kilt come to signify Scotland? And why do so many men, Highlanders or not, wear it these days—either to formal events like Christmas and New Year parties, or even daily?
Our story begins back to the s. A breacan was to be about 2 yards wide and 4 to 6 yards long. Since looms were usually 28 inches wide, this means that the breacan was 2 lengths of worsted wool sewn together. The wearer wrapped and folded his breacan round his waist, securing it with a leather belt. The remaining length he draped over the shoulder and fastened with a skewer. Those who could afford them wore tight trousers called trews under the belted plaid.
This is considered traditional Highland dress for a man. The kilt was a tailored variant that appeared in the eighteenth century. Some, like Pinkerton, even say that it was invented by…an Englishman.
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