Evolution of the Kilt -- Part I

THE EVOLUTION OF THE KILT: PART I

THE FEILIDH-MHOR

Earliest illustration of the belted plaid The kilt is perhaps the most well known emblem of Scottish heritage. All too often our romantic ideas about the its history give way to flights of fancy. The popular sentiment imagines Neolithic Scotsmen wondering about the Highlands in kilts and clan tartans! The real history of the kilt is not nearly as ancient as all that – but it is fascinating and is worthy of being told.

To that end, in the next few months I want to take a tour of the various stages in the development of Scotland’s national garment. We will begin at the beginning, with the earliest form of anything that we may call a kilt – the grandfather of the modern kilt, the feilidh-mhor. Its name in Gaelic means “great wrap.” Another name for this garment is breacan-an-feileadh, which means “tartan wrap.” (It should be mentioned that at this early period, tartan did not mean “clan tartan.” There were no named tartan patterns and individual tartans bore no significance as far as clan, family or district.)

In common parlance this garment is typically referred to as a “great kilt” though I prefer the term “belted plaid.” These names all are descriptive of the garment. In its most basic form it was a length of cloth, usually (though not always) of tartan. This wrap, or blanket, was referred to as a plaide. It was wide enough to reach from the knees to above the head (usually 50” to 60”) and was usually about four yards in length (though some may have been as long as six yards). This length was gathered into folds and belted at the waist – hence the name “belted plaid.” The bottom fell to the knee, and the upper portion was brought up over the head or shoulders and fastened in any number of ways.

The earliest definitive record we have of this style of dress by the Scottish Gaels is an Irish account from 1594 entitled The Life of Red Hugh O’Donnell. The author is describing a group of Hebridean soldiers under the service of O’Donnell. He comments on how different their dress is from the native Irish. “These were recognized among the Irish by the difference of their arms and clothing… for their exterior dress was mottled cloaks to the calf of the leg with ties and fastenings. Their girdles were over the loins outside the cloaks” (emphasis mine).

This is striking on two levels. First, it clearly described the belts (girdles) as being worn outside of the cloaks (plaids or mantles), which is the hallmark of the belted plaid. Second, it speaks of the Scottish dress as being different from the Irish. Many earlier accounts of Scottish Gaelic dress in the sixteenth century remark on how similar it is to the Irish habit. To give but two examples, in 1573 Lindsay of Pitscottie wrote of the Highlanders that “they be cloathed with ane mantle, with ane schirt saffroned after the Irish manner.” In 1547 James V took a voyage around the north of Scotland. An account of this voyage published in 1583 speaks of the ‘Wild Scots’ found in the north, “They wear like the Irish a large and full shirt, coloured with saffron . . .”

While their dress for most of the sixteenth century was very much like the Irish, the belted plaid was different. It was a departure from earlier Gaelic style. Some suggest that the belted plaid may have been worn in some form earlier on. George Buchanan’s Rerum Scoticam Historia, published in 1581, contained this description:

“Their ancestors wore plaids of many colors, and numbers still retain this custom but the majority now in their dress prefer a dark brown, imitating nearly the leaves of the heather, that when lying upon the heath in the day, they may not be discovered by the appearance of their clothes; in these wrapped rather than covered, they brave the severest storms in the open air, and sometimes lay themselves down to sleep even in the midst of snow.”

Now certainly such a description could apply to the belted plaid. But nowhere in the account is the belted plaid actually mentioned. Whether the above statement refers to a belted plaid would seem to depend upon how one interpreted the phrase potius quam tecti, which is rendered “wrapped rather than covered,” in the above translation. While this may be describing a garment that was wrapped and belted, the fact remains that an outer belt is nowhere mentioned, and no belt means no belted plaid. In any case, even if we could say for certain that this describes the feilidh-mhor, it is only thirteen years earlier than the 1594 date.

It is also important to realize that there are many earlier accounts of Highland dress from the sixteenth century, and none of them mention anything like the feilidh-mhor. The earliest illustration of someone wearing the belted plaid is by Hieronymus Tielssch and appears in a travel book from the first decade of the seventeenth century. His male Highland figure is shown here. For whatever reason, this style spread quickly across the Highlands, and for the next few centuries, the feilidh-mhor was the characteristic costume of the rugged Highlander.

It was perfectly suited to being outside in the Highland environment. In addition to providing a tough outer layer of clothing, protecting from the cold, wind and rain, it also served many other purposes. As the untailored garment was essentially a blanket wrapped and belted around the body, it was used as a blanket for sleeping in at night. It was also a form of luggage, its many folds being used to hold goods for easy transport. One final purpose that tends to surprise many is that of camouflage! We wear tartan today in order to be identified – I belong to Clan X, Y or Z But historically, tartan was often worn to be hidden, the interlocking stripes serving to break up the outline of the wearer in the same way as a tiger’s stripes or leopard’s spots. While the upper crust may have worn brightly colors plaids to show off their status, the majority (if we are to believe George Buchanan’s account quoted above) preferred somber natural tones.

One thing I do want to address before bringing this installment to a close is the proper length of this garment. I have often heard it say that the belted plaid contained no fewer than nine yards of cloth. In fact, some people seem to delight in suggesting ever greater lengths for the plaid. I have seen twelve yards mentioned, and even once ran across a web site where a poor misguided soul suggested a length of thirty yards (that’s ninety feet of heavy wool!). But the nine yard number persists, and one may legitimately wonder why so many people cling to it.

Part of the reason may be due to the fact that the modern tailored kilt typically has eight yards of cloth, nine for large men. But a more likely explanation comes from actual eighteenth century military records showing soldiers being issued nine yards of cloth for their belted plaids. However, it must be understood that the cloth was single width (typically between 25” and 30” wide) and two widths would be sewn together to get the desired double width of the belted plaid. In other words, a nine yard length of cloth would be cut in half, and the two resulting pieces would be joined to make a single garment some 4.5 yards long.

When one realizes that the feilidh-mhor was constructed of two single-width lengths of cloth joined together, it makes the transition to the feilidh-beag (“little wrap”) more logical. If the feilidh-mhor is the grandfather of the modern kilt, then the feilidh-beag is the kilt’s father. And it is here that we will pick up next month.