Men in Kilts: Wearing it 21st Century Kilt Style
If you do a Google image search for the term "men in kilts" you will find some, well, intriguing photos. You will also find the terrific photo that you see above left as the header image to this post. The man in the center of photo is Howie Nicholsby, who according to this 2016 article has not worn pants since the year 2000.
I learned about the kilt and a bit about Howie's company, 21st Century Kilts, during recent trip to Scotland after asking my tour guide, James, about his kilt. This post is about a Highlander sharing how he grew up wearing a kilt, and about modern fashiion... the kind that gets Vin Diesel and Lenny Kravitz wearing a kilt and can make news at Fashion Week in Paris.
Scottish Kilts, Part 2: Men in Kilts: Modern Fashion-Forward 21st Century Kilt Style
About James: So, if you read about My First 3 Scotland Kilt Sightings, you'll know that on my second day I met a man with a tattooed leg, wearing a brown kilt paired with sturdy boots and a friendly welcoming smile. I thought he was rocking the kilt look and appeared to feel quite comfortable as he hopped out of that "Wee Red Bus" on Princes Street and said hello.
This post is both about him and also from him. James is an engaging storyteller, an active student of history, a proud Scotsman who loves sharing his heritage, and by luck of scheduling he ended up as our tour guide from Heart of Scotland Tours for a 2-day tour of the Highlands and a 1-day Viking Coast tour. After those three days, I decided that James is one of the more interesting people that I've met in, well a very long time... to me, he is a bit of a unicorn.
You see, James is a Highlander from the remote Outer Herbrides islands who grew up steeped in combination of historic clan culture with Norse, and Christian traditions. The area of Scotland he's from was not even included on our tourism map from Heart of Scotland. It just wasn’t on the map. The furthest area was Isle of Skye, but James grew up in the even more isolated area beyond that, on the island of Harris and Lewis. And while the historic and horrific Scottish clearances that occurred the on the mainland today results in a changed Scottish culture over new generations, that wasn't the case growing up in the Outer Hebrides where the Lord of the Isles clan system remained dominant until around sometime 1980’s-ish.
At this point, you might be thinking, "Nice history bit Laura, but your point please? What about men in kilts and tell me about that fashion choice!" Well, my point here is that James grew up with clan tradition and wearing the kilt, and that he is unusual even within Scotland.
I’ve already stated my opinion that from the first time we met, I noticed that he can pull off wearing the kilt as a fashion choice. This is partly, I believe, because of James’ comfort and confidence growing up in traditional ways where wearing of the kilt was part of daily life. It is part of his identity. And partly, because James' kilt seemed like a sensible fashion element and not a pretty plaid tartan that (sorry, cant help but say this) reminds me of a schoolgirl skirt
So, when I asked James about his kilt, he shared about growing up wearing the kilt and where he buys his kilts from today. This is how you will end up full circle back to Howie Nicholsby and 21st Century Kilts. It's a good story, particularly when heard in the un-edited words and voice of a kilted Scotsman while he was driving a Wee Red Bus through the Highlands.
“I grew up on the islands. It's not that I never wore pants. I did wear pants. But I wore the kilt quite a lot. I would wear it to church every Sunday when we got taken to church. Any friend's birthdays, I would wear a kilt. Gathering of the clans, wear the kilt. Certain days of the year if I'm doing fieldwork, depending on the temperature, I'd wear the kilt.
Question: So you didn't wear it to work regularly?
It would depend on what I was doing in the fields, you know. Generally, if I'm doing machine work, I wouldn't wear a kilt. I'm too worried about something getting sucked in or caught. So generally, if I'm doing machine work, tilling or anything, I normally wear quite tight pants so that nothing gets caught in the machinery.
But yeah, it's a daily dress. It's certainly not something that's just supposed to be work on special occasions.
Question: Where do you buy your kilts?
Howie, the chap that makes my kilt, they have one of the oldest kilt shops on the Royal Mile. It's called Geoffrey Tailors. Howie, his son, he has his own shop in Thistle street which is called 21st Century Kilts.
Howie always had this idea that if we just continued to make tartan kilts that had to be worn with the frilly French shirt and the black dress jacket that it would die out. ‘Cause the youth of today don't want to dress like that. So he started to produce block color kilts, fashionable kilts that could be worn casually with hoodies or to try to encourage the younger people to look at the kilt as a fashionable item. And he's been very, very successful. But this would cause a huge falling out between Howie and his father.
His father is a traditional kilt maker and Howie's first paid contract for kilt making was for the Australian Mardi Gras and it was 22 pink see-through PVC kilts. And that made it big on the internet and his dad was hugely embarrassed about it. Almost disowned his son until Howie explained to his father just how much money he had charged them for them. And his dad went, "Really?" And Howie went, "Oh yeah." He said, "I've also got a man called Vin Diesel coming to see me for a leather kilt." And his dad went, "Okay, all is forgiven."
So Howie’ll make you a kilt out of anything.
When I went to Canada, I wanted to try to fit in a bit with the foreign boys. And I realized John Deere in Canada is a big fashion thing. It's not just farm machinery. The boys have all got their John Deere t-shirts and their John Deere hats. So I got the colors. I asked what the pigment colors were for the green and the yellow in John Deere, sent it to Howie. So Howie made me a green John Deere kilt and it put the yellow deer in between the pleats. So when I was walking, when the pleats opened up, you could see the yellow deer. Just trying to fit in with the locals, you know.
So he'll honestly make a kilt out of anything. He's such a talented man."
So, there you have it... snippets of growing up with the kilt plus an insider viewpoint about the current evolution of modern kilt into today's men's fashion. If you’re interested in hearing more of what James has to say about the kilt in his own Scottish way, please read and listen to more from this "Men in Kilts" series.
Part 3: What's Under Your Kilt? 2 Scots Reply Part 4: The History of the Kilt in Scotland
CONSIDERING A TRIP TO SCOTLAND? RESOURCES FOR YOU:
Heart of Scotland Tours website: Highly recommend! Lots of info here, but you can also find and book them through TripAdvisor. You can find full details on the tours I took below:
1 Day Tour: The Viking Coast & Alnwick Castle TripAdvisor: This is a good single resource for you to find and compare many Scotland tour options, including Heart of Scotland. TripAdvisor also has robust flight search and different option for lodging ranging from hotels to vacation rentals (similar to Airbnb).