The Armour Archive

The kilt more or less evolved from the brat - which was often really long (as a sign of wealth) and was wrapped around the body. Not too hard to see it being wrapped around a leine and seen as a "kilt".

Diglach Mac Cein wrote:The kilt more or less evolved from the brat - which was often really long (as a sign of wealth) and was wrapped around the body. Not too hard to see it being wrapped around a leine and seen as a "kilt".

When I was wearing my leine and brat, I got asked a variety of questions ranging from what "clan" I was part of (it was a plain red brat) to whether I was playing Joseph or Jesus in a Christmas play.

You can wrap it a few dozen ways, including the kilt look to cover the base of the leine (handy when it's chilly out).

The modern concept of the kilt was the creation of an English businessman as an alternative to the belted plaid round about 1725 or so, for workers in his Scottish iron foundery. His business lasted about a decade but the kilt stuck, got adopted as a military garment by colonial-bound Scottish regiments and less than a century later, ex-officer and military historian David Stewart wrote a volume of Scots military history of the previous 50 years and created the myth of the kilt as historic, traditional garment.

A couple of his contemporaries, the Hay-Allen brothers (also English), set themselves up as fashion experts and wholly fabricated the notion of individual clan tartan/setts. In less than a generation, this was all taken as gospel. By 1830-40, the idea of clan tartan kilts had permeated the depths of Scots personal mythology. Today, it's completely accepted.

Medieval Scots garments really aren't that different from those in England. Wool plaids and cloaks, sometimes belted, are what's historic, the larger, especially later draping skirt- like, are as close as exist to a "kilt" in the late Elizabethan era.

Gwen

Looking at the 'The Life of Red Hugh O’Donnell' picture above, that certainly looks like a Great Kilt to me. Can't see if it's pleated in the back, but there are multiple ways to fold a kilt depending on the weather. This is, of course, totally different than the 18th century short kilt.

Robert The Stout

Rob, even this picture does not clearly show that the plaid garment goes completely around his waist, or even has 'pleats' at all. Other pictures of the same fashion in the same period show it as a narrower 'end' of a long shawl like garment over a coat. But 'kilt supporters" don't post those or you'd see a big "uh huh' moment...

Kilts in the SCA and otherwise are always depicted as a stand alone garment. In that picture you can clearly see the bottom of the coat.

I'm not sure I understand how the coat enters the argument about whether the person is wearing a great kilt or not. I agree that it is very rare to see someone in the SCA wearing both a kilt, and a coat. I take it more as a lot of SCA folks don't do their soft kits 100% accurate. For example, you almost never see someone who is doing Elizabethan wearing both a doublet and jerkin. I'm not saying this to belittle SCA folks. I am one, and I'm guilty of the same sorts of things. It doesn't help that I already overheat during the summer. I really don't want an additional layer of clothing during the summer.

Robstout,

The problem is that the other picts of the coats sometimes show the same type of shawl draped over the shoulder and its just a long strip of cloth over the shoulders with the ends hanging down, not wrapped and pleated all the way around the waist. The edge shown parallel to the coat's hem is the short end of a long strip, not the long end (like would be in a kilt). The plaid in the picture appears not to be wrapped like a great kilt. The plaid fabric is being used more like a cloak than a skirt and is even spread out so there are no pleats.

In the SCA, you can wear whatever you darn well feel like wearing. People wear clothing that is not remotely period ALL the time. So do whatever you feel comfortable with doing. Certainly _I_ don't care what you wear. You asked a specific question so multiple people responded with pretty much the same answer.

In summary:
"The kilt worn as a man-skirt appears to be post period so there is no SCA period "correct" shoes that would be worn with it."

If you want to represent late period Scottish or Irish, there is a fair amount of imagery supporting a variety of other styles.

If you want to wear shoes, the more important thing is what is the "class status" of the person you are respresenting. Then look at various lower late 16th c shoe styles for that class and the shoes worn with the other Scottish clothing styles of the period.