Everything you need to know about...wearing the kilt

In the first of a new series, Roddy Martine reveals how to look good in a kilt

The original form of Highland dress was a simple blanket, otherwise known as a plaid. A belt was placed on the ground and the plaid laid on top and folded lengthwise into pleats. The wearer would then stretch out on top of the plaid parallel to the pleats, fasten the belt, and fold the material around the waist. When standing, a pleated skirt would have been created with a mass of material above the waist which could then be draped around the shoulders and chest for covering. At night, this garment served for excellent cover when sleeping out-of-doors in the heather.

Some historians would have us believe that it was Thomas Rawlinson, an English ironmaster in Lochaber, who invented the “little kilt” or “philbeg” for his workers. This is simply the lower half of the belted plaid with the pleats stitched up. Another possible explanation is that the transition from full body to below the waist took place when the warp-weighted loom was replaced by the horizontal loom with its narrower width.

As a result, today's kilt is created from eight yards of tartan cloth around the middle, just touching the middle of the wearer's kneecap, when standing, and the ground, when kneeling. Of course, variations in human anatomy being what they are, this is not always possible.

Tartan cloth did not have particular clan significance before its revival in the 18th century, although patterns were identified from specific districts. We know this from Martin Martin's book Descriptions of the...

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• By : Roddy Martine
• In : Products
• Issue : 29
• Page : 74
• Words : 710