Listen to “Men in Kilts! Tweed, Pink, & Leather; Scotland Fashion” on Spreaker.
QUOTES:
“I grew up on the islands. It’s not that I never wore pants. I did wear pants. But I wore the kilt quite a lot.
“But yeah, it’s a daily dress. It’s certainly not something that’s just supposed to be work on special occasions.”
“The chap that makes my kilt, they have one of the oldest kilt shops on the Royal Mile.”
“If we just continued to make tartan kilts that had to be worn with the frilly French shirt and the black dress jacket that it would die out. ‘Cause the youth of today don’t want to dress like that.
“Howie’s first paid contract for kilt making was for the Australian Mardi Gras and it was 22 pink see-through PVC kilts.
“I’ve also got a man called Vin Diesel coming to see me for a leather kilt.”
PLANNING A TRIP TO SCOTLAND?
You’ve got choices! Check out these tour options:
Multi-Day Guided Tours; The Highlands, Whiskey Tours, Isle of Sky & Best of Scotland
Day Tours: Ghost Tours & Walking Tours, Edinburgh
Day Tours: Edinburgh Whiskey Tours, Food Tours & Pub Crawls
SHOW NOTES
A Midlife Traveler Podcast; Season 1 Scotland Speaks
EPISODE: Modern Kilt Fashion
Remember: This story is better when heard in the Scottish voice…so listen the podcast…please.
Growing up wearing the kilt in the Scottish Highland-Island area
I grew up on the islands. It’s not that I never wore pants. I did wear pants. But I wore the kilt quite a lot. I would wear it to church every Sunday when we got taken to church. Any friend’s birthdays, I would wear a kilt. Gathering of the clans, wear the kilt. Certain days of the year if I’m doing fieldwork, depending on the temperature, I’d wear the kilt.
(Q: So you didn’t wear it to work regularly?)
It would depend on what I was doing in the fields, you know. Generally, if I’m doing machine work, I wouldn’t wear a kilt. I’m too worried about something getting sucked in or caught. So generally, if I’m doing machine work, tilling or anything, I normally wear quite tight pants so that nothing gets caught in the machinery.
But yeah, it’s a daily dress. It’s certainly not something that’s just supposed to be work on special occasions.
Modern kilt fashion: Not just the colored plaid seen in in tourist shops.
The chap that makes my kilt, they have one of the oldest kilt shops on the Royal Mile. It’s called Geoffrey Tailors. Howie, his son, he has his own shop in Thistle street which is called 21st Century Kilts.
Howie always had this idea that if we just continued to make tartan kilts that had to be worn with the frilly French shirt and the black dress jacket that it would die out. ‘Cause the youth of today don’t want to dress like that. So he started to produce block color kilts, fashionable kilts that could be worn casually with hoodies or to try to encourage the younger people to look at the kilt as a fashionable item. And he’s been very, very successful. But this would cause a huge falling out between Howie and his father.
Re-inventing Kilt Fashion: Tweed, Pink, and Leather
So, Howie’s father is a traditional kilt maker. And Howie’s first paid contract for kilt making was for the Australian Mardi Gras and it was 22 pink see-through PVC kilts. And that made it big on the internet and his Dad was hugely embarrassed about it. Almost disowned his son until Howie explained to his father just how much money he had charged them for them.
And his dad went, “Really?”
And Howie went, “Oh yeah, and I’ve also got a man called Vin Diesel coming to see me for a leather kilt.”
And his dad went, “Okay, all is forgiven.”
21st Century Kilts; making unique custom kilts…out of anything
So Howie’ll make you a kilt out of anything. When I went to Canada, I wanted to try to fit in a bit with the foreign boys. And I realized John Deere in Canada is a big fashion thing. It’s not just farm machinery. The boys have all got their John Deere t-shirts and their John Deere hats. So I got the colors. I asked what the pigment colors were for the green and the yellow in John Deere, sent it to Howie.
So Howie made me a green John Deere kilt and it put the yellow deer in between the pleats. So when I was walking, when the pleats opened up, you could see the yellow deer. Just trying to fit in with the locals, you know.
So he’ll honestly make a kilt out of anything. Howie’s such a talented man.
PLANNING A TRIP TO SCOTLAND?