Tell me about a Scotland please!

[the_cube]

No thanks - no sense in kicking someone when they're down.

I wasn't aware I was down?

Your post actually clears up a lot, thanks polsy
I know kilts are historical and traditional and not just your average piece of clothing, I was JUST asking for information geez. In some countries, traditional clothing is adapted to the fashion market in order to increase sales by appealing to nationalism; that is why I asked what I did in the first place...

Nah, me thinks a kilt is 'free' enough without the patches coming off as well

(although they are a man's dress item, unless you are a woman highland dancer or in a pipe band) - I'm a wee confused here; my friend tells me that a great deal of schools over there have school uniforms consisting of kilts for both genders. Perhaps this is an exception?

[kathyv]

Cubie, usually the 'kilt' a girl wears is a skirt, even if it's patterned like plaid. Even in an school uniform, the girls would wear a skirt. I have no idea if a boy's kilt would be part of the school uniform attire or if they would wear trousers. Think of the Highland Dancer or Pipe and Drum Band clothing as being a costume rather than more common dress, that may help with the confusion. When you go shopping, ask for a woman's tartan skirt.

Our school has the uniform code and the girls may wear a skirt, walking shorts or slacks (The USA word for women's trousers) but the boys must wear trousers, no shorts, no kilt. One of our male students has a kilt, he gets permission from the Headmaster to wear it on special occasions or to special school events.

[The Martians]

There's a school in Dunblane for the sons of members of the armed forces, their school uniform is a kilt. School tartan if memory serves.

It's not unusual to see guys wearing a kilt as you would a pair of jeans, down the pub or at a rugby game for example, in fact the cheap-and-nasty ones can be quite useful for situations where you wouldn't want a "proper" one (8 yards of new wool and about £400) because it would get ruined.

Yep, a kilt for women is more technically known as a "skirt"
You need a bloke's figure to pull it off with style, they're not designed for girly hips or calves.

[the_cube]

Thanks everyone! I feel I know a little more about kilts now, and am really excited about my thoroughly planned trip

The Martians: I suppose if you want to get down and dirty or rumble around in mud, cheap and piraty tartan is the optimum way


Oddly enough, tartan sounds a lot like tårtan in Swedish, which means cake; which makes me hungry everytime I think about it