Sightings "in the wild"

[skirtingtoday]

Welcome kilts4u2! Great to hear from you and I would love to hear more of how and why you started - possibly in the Introductions section?

I find the easiest way to put up pics is to post them somewhere like Photobucket and when you click on the IMG code, it copies the location to the forum page you wish. Et viola!

[Kirbstone]

Today all day we have been at a large landed gentry wedding down in Co. Tipperary. The actual ceremony took place in a really tiny church/chapel in an out-of-the-way village which had a convenient low-ceilinged pub opposite. They had laid on serious professional music including a harpist and the programme was very modern with just one sop to tradition by the inclusion of Schubert's 'Ave Maria' half way through. After signing the register the couple came down the aisle to quite the most beaty rock-type wedding march I have ever heard. Outside we were greeted by a sudden heavy sharp shower and the little umberella was called for just to make it in a rush to the car.
The reception was for vastly more people, perhaps 300 in an amazing Las Vegas style brand new 'Traditional' hotel/spa/golf course &c. place called 'The Heritage'. Why I go into this is because there were at that reception several young men all dressed to the nines in green tartan kilt outfits all the same, and I thought perhaps they were going to pipe us in to the dinner later on.
They were like us, just guests, but cousins, all wearing the Anderson tartan, and did it look fabulous!! Alas I didn't bring a camera. What was interesting was later on after the meal the dancing got under way, initially ballroom dancing like we like, but the swirl of the kilts on the dance floor was at least as good as the girls' outfits. I'm afraid I was in boring trousers & couldn't compete. The wife of one of them had been wearing very high barbie-doll platform heels and she sensibly changed them for little dancing shoes for that activity.

T.

[skirtingtoday]

Still on holiday in Chicago so using I-pod touch to text so apologies for typos. I was in the Adler planetarium and saw a man in a denim blue Utilikilt at the Galileo cafe. Didn't see anyone take any notice at all. Couldn't go up to say hi as I was with my wife. Don't think she even noticed but will check her out later.

Whoever you were you looked great and relaxed despite being the only man not in trousers or shorts!

[couyalair]

... a man in a denim blue Utilikilt ...

Whoever you were you looked great and relaxed despite being the only man not in trousers or shorts!

Surely the word "despite" could have been omitted, no?
He was relaxed because he was in his uk -- just as you could have been !!!

Martin

[STEVIE]

Hi Martin, (and others)
Please bear in mind, that for many of us there are constraints of various kinds on when we can, and cannot, wear a skirt.
From your posts, you seem to be fairly lucky, a relaxed environment , supportive family and most importantly, your wife.
I will admit to being a tad envious, as I have to deal with "compromises" on a daily basis, simply to maintain a reasonable existence.
If I had been in ST's situation, wearing a skirt, wife present, think WW3 about to happen, and you may have some idea.
I kind of hope, that you "count your blessings"
Steve.
I'm also confident that the use of "despite" was not meant to have any negative implication.

[skirtingtoday]

You are correct Stevie - the word "despite" was not at all in a negative context. As a preposition, it of course means "notwithstanding". Like you I have to compromise daily as though WW3 was about to happen.

Hopefully this will change but my hopes are low.

And Martin, you can indeed think yourself lucky that family and friends are so supportive and probably now ignore the skirt/kilt.

[couyalair]

I can see that my wording above could be seen as scornful, so I'll say "sorry", as that was not my intention, my excuse being that I do not use English as much as the rest of you
Yes, I recognize that I am lucky to be able to relax in the garments of my choice -- it comes of long practice. Although I was always in jacket & tie as a student and the first two years of my working life, ever since then my attire has been quite informal, sandals, open shirts, shorts* when no-one else was wearing them (the in-laws referred to me as the hippy of the family), and more recently mugs, of course. So for a long time, I have been happy to be different.

*
In the late 60s - 70s, when men suddenly discovered they could be colourful, wear carefully shaped clothes, long hair, jewelry, they stopped wearing shorts, except perhaps on holiday, away from home, when we sported shorts that were short. Americans wore bermudas, but they were not seen in Europe until later. For years, no men, even youngsters, showed their legs in public. Now, everyone goes into shorts as soon as the weather brightens up.
I mention this as an example of the way totally unacceptable gaments can become common-place a generation later. So ... why not skirts too, sooner of later?
Martin

[Grott]

Stevie wrote - Please bear in mind, that for many of us there are constraints of various kinds on when we can, and cannot, wear a skirt.

Yes I agree there are many constraints and we all have to exist in different situation, and wearing a skirt can be difficult.
But I would also reiterate the sentiments that have often been made on this and other boards many times in the past. Often it is our own fears that hold us back.

I started off just going out in kilts occasionally, because of those same fears. But I have overcome those fears and now I wear skirts all the time. the kilts are reserved for more formal occasions and colder weather, when the heavier materiel is needed.

I am lucky that I have now retired so I don't have the complication of paid employment - But I do voluntary work for 4 different charities ( including a children's charity and one run by the local council) all of these involve close contact with the public as a representative of those charities, and I have had no complaints about the skirts - if anything the skirts can make the job easier.

This has also given me the opportunity to talk to my colleagues about their first reaction to the kilts/ skirts - Generally their reactions are one of humour/surprise and thoughts of what a weirdo/slightly crazy / is he gay. None of them have expressed anger or outrage.

Now we have been working together they are accepting of me and understand the reasons for the skirts and more often than not they do not even notice the skirts. I have even over heard some defending me to others who have made comments about the skirts.

Hard as it may be the secret is to get out there and brave the initial "shock" - acceptance comes with familiarity.

All the best

Roger

[ChrisM]

I am off today to tour a hospital ship owned by the US Navy, along with a group of 12 University student interns here at the navy lab in Washington DC.

As the weather is forecast to be 101 F today, I will be wearing my khaki knee-length skirt, and a light guayabera shirt.

As usual, there will be no repercussions to my clothing choice, although with the youth there may be some conversation.

Chris

[JPatrickM]

Yesterday evening had my first sight for years of a skirted male.( I used to run a pharmacy next door to a church, so saw plenty of kilts at weekend weddings, all in tartans to which the wearers may or may not have been entitled.) But yesterday's sighting was a plain black job, on a youngish bloke, who swept past us between Waterloo Station and the Royal Festival Hall in London. He appeared to be heading for Waterloo Bridge. I would have approached him if (a)I had spotted him sooner, and (b) had I been on my own, as it appeared to be the kind of kilt I have been looking for for ages, but can never find on any website that Google can lead me to.
Never mind, it was a great concert. (Mahler, 2nd Symphony)
Patrick

[Mugs-n-such]

I was driving home yesterday and I saw two young men walking on the sidewalk and I'm 95% sure one was wearing a skirt. At first I thought it was shorts, but now I'm about sure it was a skirt. Also, I didn't see it personally, but a friend of mine who knows I wear kilts almost all the time told me he saw another young man (whoa! I'm not young) in a green kilt, he said he wished he'd taken a picture.
Btw, in the movie "Hilander", I think what he is wearing, in the scene with Sean Connery in it, although it's supposed to be a kilt, I think it's a print skirt. Anyone else think this?

[skirtyscot]

30 June, in Ferney-Voltaire, a French town right next to Geneva. Only three groups of people at breakfast in our hotel, but two skirted men among them. I was one, of course. The other was a man who was of North African origin, and he wore a garment which looked for all the world like a man's casual long-sleeved white shirt, except that it went all the way down to his ankles. Ideal for a hot sunny day, if you ask me. Don't know what you call it, but no doubt someone here can enlighten me?

The other group included a man who was dressed very inappropriately for such a hot morning, in a curious item which completely covered each leg in a separate tube of cloth, allowing very little circulation of cooling air. Can't see why he would want to make himself so uncomfortable like that - some religious reason, perhaps?

[straightfairy]

he wore a garment which looked for all the world like a man's casual long-sleeved white shirt, except that it went all the way down to his ankles. Ideal for a hot sunny day, if you ask me. Don't know what you call it, but no doubt someone here can enlighten me?

That sounds like a djellaba - I've got one which I use about the house.
Mine's a poly/cotton summer-weight item but you can get heavier ones too. Moroccan version is called a thobe, I think.

[couyalair]

... Moroccan version is called a thobe, I think.

No, the Middle Eastern garment is the thobe, generally white and lightweight.
The Moroccan jellaba is made if thick, various colours and always with a large hood.
For special occasions men may wear lightweight jellabas of very fine white wool.
In summer (or in winter under the warm jellaba), men wear long tunics with or without sleeves, with a low neckline often embroidered. In the ME, they seem to prefer to be buttoned up at the neck.

Martin

[skirtingtoday]

Many years ago, I too had a couple of those long shirts when I was working in Libya - there it was called a dishdash.

Very comfortable they were too in the hot summers!