Kilt status: A history of the iconic Scottish skirt, from wartime wrap to punk protest

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Isn’t it funny how one of the most masculine garments a gentleman can don is a patterned, pleated skirt that’s fastened with a buckle? Allow me to introduce the kilt: a Highland hero; a punk rock icon; a dashing choice for eveningwear; something that can work in everyone’s wardrobe (yes, even yours).

The modern kilt is descended from the féileadh mòr (‘the big wrap’) — a long plaid cloth that was also belted at the waist, but came up and over the shoulder, or sometimes the head. It is thought similar styles were worn by Celtic warriors in Roman times, but it was during the 16th century, as the availability of wool increased, that it became more commonplace. The garment could be plain or patterned; wealthier wearers plumped for richer colours and more luxurious fabrics and the rest of the population was stuck with rough, vegetable-dyed wool.

You may have read about Thomas Rawlinson, an English ironmaster who employed Highlanders to work his furnaces in Glengarry, near Inverness. He is rumoured to have invented the féileadh beag (‘little wrap’) in the early 18th century — an efficient alternative to the ‘cumbersome’ belted plaid. It kept the wearer cooler and safer around working machinery and was quicker to put on. However, there are illustrations of Highlanders wearing only the bottom half of the wraps long before Rawlinson ever set foot in Scotland.

In 1746, the British Government passed the Dress Act which made it illegal for men and boys to wear ‘the Highland dress’. The dramatic ruling was in response to Jacobite uprisings and designed to strip clans of their identities and dismantle a symbolic, unifying factor of Scottish identity. However, the Act made an exemption for those serving in Highland regiments. The law was repealed in 1782, by which time, kilts and tartans were no longer ordinary Highland dress.

The kilt’s rehabilitation began in the early 19th century. As the industrial revolution tightened its grubby grip, the Scottish Highlands was increasingly romanticised as a source of inspiration, refuge and authenticity; Highlanders were viewed less as a threat and more as ‘noble savages’. In 1822, George IV visited Edinburgh wearing full Highland dress. It was branded a ‘publicity stunt’ by some, but catapulted the kilt back into the public consciousness and promoted it as fashionable dress among the Scottish nobility. Over time, the shape was further tailored, and a wraparound style, secured with a pin, popularised among middle- and upper-class women.

Towards the end of the 20th century, a new generation of Scotsmen began to wear the kilt in everyday settings, paired with sweaters, leather jackets and chunky boots, subverting its 200-year status as a garment of the established classes. It became a symbol of counterculture — think the Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen — all while remaining a symbol of Scottish strength and culture, kindly supported by films such as Braveheart, the popularisation of The Highland Games, and quotes such as: ‘A man in a kilt is a man and a half’ (attributed to Sean Connery).