Picking Out A Kilt, How to do this?

Good day,
I have an interest in buying a kilt to wear this summer at any Irish/Scottish festivals I get to go to and I was curious if I can have some help doing this?
I don't know anything about formal/casual Scottish/Irish dress so please treat me like I know nothing in your answers.


The main festival I'll be going to is Irish so I think that might be the best route to take. But, I don't really know if kilts are as Irish as they are Scottish. Historically, are they as common?

What kind of kilt should I purchase for wearing at these festivals. I would like to get something that is a little more on the formal side than casual work atire I think.

And can anyone please provide some links to good websites to buy this in the US so I don't get robbed with international shipping.

With the kilt I'm sure I'll want to get a Sporran so any help there too, please.

Thank you kindly for any help you can offer me!

Take care,
-Andy

The irish do not wear kilts nor have they ever wore kilts. The irish kilt and tartans were developed specifically for the american market. If you want to celebrate your irish heritage, I wuld advise wearing trousers.

If you do happen to purchase a kilt, I would like you to show us how you look in it

aorr

Scotsborn is absolutely correct there is no historical evidence whatever that the Irish ever wore Kilts. You mentioned something about MacIntosh.. If you are connected to that Clann then you should delve into it

Camac.

Hi aorr, if you're interested in kilt there is another topic about it all.
It's under the topic "Kilt merchant" here in the general discussion forum the last one at the buttom of the page.I hope you'll find the answers to your questions. LOA

Although you may not be Scottish, you can certainly wear a kilt.

I would suggest you check out Kiltsrock.com (see my siggie). It's a site devoted to the wearing and promotion of the wearing of kilts. Not that the people here can't help you, but they are obviously a little more "into" the kilt wearing.

Are you looking for a traditional kilt (tartan) or a modern (solid) kilt? Hand-sewn or machine?

Here are some reputable places to purchase from:

USA kilts - http://www.usakilts.com/
Scottish Tartans Museum - http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/index.html
Stillwater kilts - http://www.stillwaterkilts.com/
Utilikilt - http://www.utilikilts.com/

I've purchased kilts from the first three, and would recommend all of them.

If you would like to wear a kilt with an Irish theme there are several Irish National tartans. I know Sport kilt has two tartans for the Irish but I think they are Sport kilts own design. The Scottish tartan authority has these listed along with a Irish American tartan which I hadn't seen before. The link is here for a look at the samples. Just click on the name.

http://www.tartans.scotland.net/atoz_retur...31&letter=I.htm

Kilts are both Irish and Scot. The Irish are solid colors based on location of residence. The scot Kilts denote Clan affiliation by the tartan plaids. The Kilt should fit rather high on the waist and come to the middle of your knee caps. Otherwise it will look like a skirt. For casual, wear a brown belt and Sporan, Brown Shoes and a Jacobyte shirt. Never skimp on the socks and wear flashes. A brown vest would be optional. The Prince Charlie outfit would equal our Tuxedo. The accessories for formal and evening dress should be black. One Kilt can be worn day or evening by changing belt, sporan and shoes from brown to black. If you go to a web site for a REAL Scot Kilt maker you will get fitting charts and guidelines at no cost. The exchange rates for Dollar to Pound make the Scot Kilts rather pricy right now. I have 4 outfits covering the spectrum but have lost weight and need to gain or have alterations made. A poorly fitting Kilt looks like c--p. Never let anyone press it who isnt experienced in pressing Kilts. The same with alterations, experience is paramount. Kilts attract a lot of attention away from the festivals.. When I am in "full" dress and with my Claymore people want to take pictures. Choose wisely and enjoy the kilt.

Slàinte,     

Patch

patch, the saffron solid coloured kilt is NOT irish. The saffron coloured kilt was developed for the british army to be worn by ulster scots of the irish regiments. The irish do not wear kilts nor have they ever worn kilts and this is regardless of the attempts by easter rising leader padraic pearse to adopt the kilt for irishman (it failed)

HI Aorr if you are interested in a kilt I'd love to make one for you. I make a lovely modern walking kilt good for all occasions. They are well bulit and custom made to each customer by me at a reasonable price. If interrested my e-mial is Crazykiltedcelt @yahoo .com. I,m just downthe road from you in Utah. Hope I can help you!!

Not even remotely true.

In 1900 Seamas OCeallaigh of the Gaelic League asked Pádraig Pearse about developing an Irish national dress, perhaps based upon a pair of trews which had been found at Killery, County Sligo dated from about the 16th century in the Royal Irish Academy Collection in the National Museum in Dublin.

On October 26 Pearse wrote:
"...one would at first sight take them for a rather clumsily made and ill-treated pair of modern gentlemen's drawers. Frankly, I should much prefer to see you arrayed in a kilt, although it may be less authentic, than in a pair of these trews. You would if you appeared in the latter, run the risk of leading the spectators to imagine that you had forgotten to don your trousers and had sallied forth in your drawers."

The ancient dress of Ireland was the leine and brat, somewhat resembling a woman's chemise and a horse blanket. As a modern form of national dress, it suffers from the same limitations as the trews in the National Museum. As the Irish leine was traditionally dyed the color of saffron, the color saffron was chosen as the color if the Irish kilt. The saffron kilt first proposed by Pádraig Pearse (who read the Declaration of the Irish Republic on the front steps of the Dublin GPO in 1916), was worn by Bernard FitzPatrick and Pierce OMahoney while campaigning for home rule in Parliament in the 1880’s, by Douglas Hyde at his inauguration as the first President of Ireland in 1938, and is worn by the pipers of all three Army brigades and the Air Corps the Óglaigh na h-Eireann; the Irish Defense Forces, as well as pipers of the Royal Irish Regiment today. The saffron kilt sure as Hell was not invented by the British Army. It is an Irish kilt.

Distinctively Irish solid color kilts are also seen in dark greens, blues, and reds (solid colors, differentiating them from Scottish tartan kilts), primarily among Irish dancers (at least in the pre-Michael Flatley days), and there are many beautiful Irish county and national tartans available today (I'm particularly partial to the County Mayo tartan myself). That said, there is no evidence of kilts being worn by the Irish, saffron or otherwise, prior to 1900, and hardly anyone in Ireland who isn't in a pipe band ever wears kilts.

I've several good friends who wear the US Marine Corps tartan, despite the fact Marines were never issued kilts (best of luck if you'd like to get argumentative with them over their right to wear it!). If you want to wear an Irish kilt, do so with pride, but know the history behind it.


Éireann go Brách!

If you want to wear a kilt, don't let yourself be bullied from doing so.
I wear a kilt all the time and I'm not Scottish. In fact, I'm a kiltmaker and I'm well versed in the history of kilts. There is a very large amount of misinformation about kilts online. Check out albanach.org for some straight talk.
Wear a kilt if you like wearing a kilt. It's a garment, not a costume! Historically, it was a garment. It has turned into a costume with rigid rules for wear for some Scots but that's now changing, as well.
The undisputable fact is that kilts are evolving from a Scottish only garment.
Ask the Irish, Welsh, Cornish, etc if you don't believe me. They all wear kilts as part of their heritage.
Have they been wearing them as long as the Scots?
No.
Can kilts become a national tradition if you're not Scottish?
Of course!

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for all the replies! I've been swamped with my job and so I haven't had time to pursue this over the last week but hopefully soon. I'll have to read through everyone's reply and figure out what to do! Thanks very much!
-Andy