Those Pesky Rules!
©2009 Matthew A. C. Newsome, FSA
Scot, GTS
originally published in The
Scottish Banner, April 2009
My favorite quote about the kilt
comes from Stuart Ruaidri Erskine, whom in 1901 proclaimed,
“The Highland dress is essentially a ‘free’ dress – that is to
say, a man’s taste and circumstances must alone be permitted
to decide when and where and how he should wear it...” Many
people are tempted to read a quote like that and find in it
justification for an “anything goes” attitude towards kilt
wearing. However, it is telling that this statement of
Erskine’s was made in a book he wrote entitled The Kilt and
How to Wear It.
Is it a contradiction that the
same man who would proclaim the kilt a “free dress” would also
write what amounts to a handbook of how it should be worn?
Not really; not if you understand that Erskine was not
attempting to write a rule book, but a resource of educated
opinion. Nor did he intend the above quoted statement to
equate wearing the kilt to a fashion free-for-all.
If one spends time reading the
various internet forums haunted by kilt wearers, it would seem
that there are opposing factions within that community. Some
who would be styled “traditionalists” or “purists” insist that
the kilt be worn according to certain established and
respected guidelines. Others are wont to take a rather
contemporary or liberal view of kilt wearing and react
strongly against anyone speaking of Highland fashion in terms
of what is “proper” or “acceptable.”
At least this is the opinion one
gets from eaves dropping in on certain discussions. I would
wager that most people who wear the kilt actually fit into a
happy medium somewhere in between these two extremes.
In the not-too-distant past, there
was a real tendency to regulate every aspect of Highland
attire. A good part of this attitude stems from the kilt’s
history as a military garment, where clothing is by definition
regulated. I once had a retired British officer inform me in
no uncertain terms that the cuff of my kilt hose was turned
over an inch too long! I had to remind him that I was a
civilian and not wearing a uniform, thank you!
People also tend towards a
regulated attitude in terms of what tartan wear. The idea
still persists among many that one must have a “right” or an
“entitlement” before they may be permitted to wear a given
tartan. I’ve even seen it in print that one could be
monetarily fined in Scotland for wearing the wrong tartan!
(Something which is patently untrue). Those in this camp may
very well tell me that I have no right to wear the Armstrong
tartan unless I bear the name, despite the fact that my
grandmother was born with that name.
The truth of the matter is that
there are no hard and fast rules about wearing tartans. One
is generally free to wear the tartan of one’s choosing,
understanding that by doing so you are identifying yourself
with whatever the tartan represents (be that a clan, family,
district, etc.). And unless one is wearing the kilt as a part
of a uniform, one is free to accessorize the kilt as one
will.
However, none of this means that
the kilt is an excuse to throw all sense of fashion to the
wind. Nor does it imply that there are not strong traditions
associated with kilt wearing. And while one does not need to
be a slave to tradition, one should at least be aware of it,
if only to know the “rules” one is breaking!
In casual dress, one may not need
to be concerned with anything more complicated than whether
this or that pair of kilt hose look best with a particular
sweater. But formal dress carries with it a whole host of
conventions that are not unique to Scottish attire.
I read recently an internet post
stating that a five or six button waistcoat should be worn
with a neck tie, while a three or four button waistcoat was
proper with a bow tie. Another reader reacted strongly
against being told what he could and could not wear, when all
the original poster was doing was conveying the traditional
guidelines for evening fashion.
I think people tend to overreact
to statements like this because they associate any suggestion
of “rules” with those pesky “kilt police!” But it is
important to remember that society does have its own fashion
rules and informing others of those often unspoken conventions
is not the same as dictating what tartan they may wear.
Other people are looking at how
you present yourself, and you do well to be aware of that. It
is wrong to judge someone based on skin color, or eye color,
and other physical traits for which we are not responsible.
But we can and do make assumptions based on aspects of
appearance that we can control, such as our clothing.
What do I mean by this? Obviously
there are some modes of dress that suggest occupation – the
police uniform, the doctor’s white coat, the judge’s robes.
But apart from that, we each wear a type of uniform of our own
making. Society has certain expectations about how people are
to dress. Think of a lawyer, an English professor, a
landscaper, and truck driver. We have certain expectations
about how people in each of these professions dress.
The Scottish Tartans Museum, being
located in the mountains of western North Carolina, gets
frequent visitors who are hiking the Appalachian Trail. I can
always spot a trail hiker as soon as they walk in the door,
because of the way they are dressed. When people see a man in
a kilt, they assume he is of Scottish heritage. That may or
may not be true, but given the history of the kilt it is a
fair assumption.
We do this without even thinking.
We get an impression of a person’s lifestyle, economic status,
sense of fashion, maybe even their interests, occupation, and
sense of self-worth. We may later learn that our initial
assumptions were wrong, but that doesn’t stop us from doing
it.
All this is to say that each time
we dress we make a statement about ourselves. Is it the
statement we want to make? Putting on the kilt itself makes a
statement. But kilted or not, we at least need to be aware of
the conventions of dress (which may differ depending on your
local culture), so that when we break those conventions, it
can be a conscious choice, and not a fashion faux-pas.
