YOU may have heard the news that traditional kilt-making has been added to the list of crafts that are in danger of disappearing, so we should probably talk about what’s at risk here. We should also talk about the weird and, to be honest, troubling relationship some men have with their kilts. Knitted deep into the plaid are all sorts of complicated issues, including politics, nationality, and gender, and maybe one day Scottish men will admit it.
As for how a traditional kilt is actually made, I saw the process for myself when I visited Kinloch Anderson in Leith. The kilt is made from one eight-yard stretch of material and the skill is chalking it so you know exactly where to put the pleats. The whole thing takes a skilled person about eight hours at least.
The problem – and it’s the same with sporrans – is there are lots of cheap imports around, which has put the traditional craft under pressure. Kilt making by hand has now been added to the endangered list kept by the Heritage Crafts Association along with the likes of arrowsmithing, flintknapping, and lorinery. What it means is these wonderful traditions could disappear altogether.
In some ways though, it does seem strange that the threat to traditional kilt-making should come up now. The kilt has never been so ubiquitous, but maybe a lot of men think the lighter, cheaper kilt is easier to wear and lug about. The cost of a hand-made kilt can also be daunting – these days, you can easily pay more than £1,000.
The other problem with kilts is that, if you do get one, it comes with a lot of baggage and attitude, some of which is a load of rubbish. For many, the kilt is the standardised vision of Scotland, but they weren’t always so common. My parents married in the 60s and it didn’t even cross my father’s mind to wear a kilt. I also spoke to the historian Patrick Watt about tartan and his experience was similar. Dr Watt, who was curator of modern history at the National Museum of Scotland, told me his dad did wear a kilt at his wedding in 1976 but people asked what he was doing. “Lots of people wear kilts now,” he said, “but it’s a recent thing – in the last 40 years.”
No doubt, some of this recent enthusiasm for kilts has something to do with the recent enthusiasm for independence, the idea being that kilts are a link to national identity, rebellion or a form of modern-day Jacobitism. But all I’d say to that is: check your history. It may not be true, as some people think, that Highland dress was invented by Walter Scott, but the modern romantic image was popularised and spread by Queen Victoria. And check out this fact: at Culloden, there were kilted solders on both sides.
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The idea of clan tartans, which is also associated with kilts, is a modern obsession too, and an irritating one. Traditionally, people mixed and matched tartans, but now there’s an idea that you should wear your clan tartan and, if you don’t, a bumptious bore will tell you why you should. But why does the kilt have to be associated with “rules” and cultural snobbery? Better to do your own thing (my kilt, by the way, is made from an Irish tartan).
Finally, there’s one other thing we should talk about, and it’s an issue most men are reluctant to discuss: sex and gender. I was at a ceilidh a while ago and the subject of men dressing “as women” came up, with most of the guys saying they were uncomfortable with the idea. I pointed out they were expressing this opinion while wearing skirts, to which their response was “these aren’t skirts, these are kilts!”
That says it all, doesn’t it? We live in a society that says certain clothes are for women and certain clothes are for men; many men also believe skirts are “wrong” and kilts are “right”. But how many men are hiding their true feelings? How many men would like to try “women’s clothes”? And how many of them are secretly doing it when they put on their kilts?
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