Thank God for Utilikilts!

General discussion of skirt and kilt-based fashion for men, and stuff that goes with skirts and kilts.
Blackpassage
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Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Blackpassage »

For those of us still working on our own personal comfort levels skirting in public, Utilikilts sure provide a great icebreaker! I've been wearing mine for a year and a half now, in town, on planes, camping, whatever. With or without tights, or leggings. It has been a terrific outlet for me. The biggest hurdle was the family picinic."What's under that?" Honestly, I just ignored that one. Anyway, I just wanted throw something out there. All of your posts are greatly inspiring, and I try to push my comfort level a little more all the time. Cheers.
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Dick Ackerman
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Dick Ackerman »

Blackpassage:

I agree. I have been wearing Utility Kilts from several different makers since 1999 on a regular basic. Do they turn heads sometimes, sure, and that is part of the fun. And the simple reality is they are a skirt. Steve at Utilikilts puts it very well. He has said he never would have believed he could be successful selling skirts to men. I like them because they are extremely comfortable and very practical.

Dick
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Caultron
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Caultron »

I started with utility kilts myself and I agree they're a great way to get started. I still wear them for hiking, for hockey games, and occasionally just for variery.

They're particularly great when you want pockets rather than a bag.
Courage, conviction, nerve, verve, dash, panache, guts, nuts, balls, gall, élan, stones, whatever. Get some and get skirted.

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Kirbstone
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Kirbstone »

Caultron wrote:I started with utility kilts myself and I agree they're a great way to get started. I still wear them for hiking, for hockey games, and occasionally just for variery.

They're particularly great when you want pockets rather than a bag.
1/, in Dublin, a Northsider would say 'Deloirah' (delighted)
2/ I second your 'pockets' motion.

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weeladdie18
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by weeladdie18 »

This is an interesting Post. The manufactures claimed that this garment is a mans skirt....
With a lack of knowledge of the traditional Scottish Kilt, the purchaser assumes he is wearing
a Kilt....It does appear to me that the manufacturer has mislead the purchaser into believing
he is wearing what I would call a traditional Scottish kilt when he is wearing a mans skirt

The Garment has been mis named for advertising and marketing purposes

My analogy is for a gentleman to ride a motorcycle and claim he is driving a car.....both are forms
of transport.....The professional gentleman drove his car... the tradesman could afford a brand new
motor cycle ......I am going to use one of my fathers saying...I am going to throw the book at you...

Read , learn and inwardly digest...... read two books .....

THE ART OF KILT MAKING...Currently available from U.S.A .....

MEN in SKIRTS by Andrew Bolton Curator of the V and A. Museum in the U.K.

Supplier is a second hand book shop with world wide supplies of second hand books....

Please do not waste your time arguing with me until you fully understand the contents of both books
And have engaged your brain before you open your mouth....

Please do not insult me further as one post has already been Flagged....with a judgement in my favour.
weeladdie18
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by weeladdie18 »

The traditional Scottish Kilt

A customer would pay for 20 hours labour plus probably 30 % extra for the 8 yards of correct

traditional material in the correct tartan which the customer may or should wear.

Please remember that if your great grandfather was alive today and saw you dressed
like a spare prick at a wedding....well ...... he would turn in his grave.

The whole issue here is not what you think you can get away with, but how do you know
that what you are wearing is traditionally correct.

The problem you have to face is the reason why people laugh at you behind your back....

I personally do not wish to go out on the street dressed like a pantomime dame.

It may not be the Kilt Police who have something flashing under the Kilt ....
It might be you if you have not been taught how to wear
the Traditionally Designed and Manufactured Scottish Kilt.

Remember my story of the lad who was given the keys of a government issue Land Rover.
He was told he was in charge ...He drove the vehicle into a bog up to its axles .
I reminded him it was his problem , not mine.

when you go out on the street in your Traditional Scottish Kilt you may end up in a bog.
Please do not expect S.W.M.B.O. to get you out of the bog if she did not go to school
with boys who wore the Kilt as part of their school uniform
Last edited by weeladdie18 on Mon Dec 17, 2018 8:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
weeladdie18
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by weeladdie18 »

Please understand that I do not object to the man wearing a Utility Kilt...A popular male skirt.

I am curious to know why the garment is used as a stepping stone to further adventures in a
different style of garment...
For me...I cannot go unto town and try on different styles
of male box pleated or Knife pleated skirts....there might be weather temperatures when the garment is unsuitable ....I do not like lightweight pleated garments .....regular pressing of pleated skirts is not
on my agender.....I do have a couple of Long Box pleats but they did not fit into a late autumn style..

Best of luck with your skirting , gentlemen
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Daryl
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Daryl »

weeladdie18 wrote:Please do not waste your time arguing with me until you fully understand the contents of both books
And have engaged your brain before you open your mouth....
Ooh, I am going to have to remember this variation on the "appeal to authority". Now all I have to do is scour the library for a set of tomes that I will insist people need to have read before forming an opinion contrary to mine. This will come in very handy, I am sure. Thanks.

(Of course, I won't feel the need to actually read those sources myself, but merely know enough about them to test whether someone else has actually read them or not.)
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Daryl
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Daryl »

Blackpassage wrote:For those of us still working on our own personal comfort levels skirting in public, Utilikilts sure provide a great icebreaker! I've been wearing mine for a year and a half now, in town, on planes, camping, whatever. With or without tights, or leggings. It has been a terrific outlet for me. The biggest hurdle was the family picinic."What's under that?" Honestly, I just ignored that one. Anyway, I just wanted throw something out there. All of your posts are greatly inspiring, and I try to push my comfort level a little more all the time. Cheers.
Utilikilts were my gateway garments, as well. They served adequately as icebreakers, for sure. Because they say "kilt" in the minds of most viewers, people have mental safety hooks they can use while assimilating your skirtedness.

For a time, I was an enthusiast. I bought three different UKs. I do not wear them at all anymore. The only part I miss is the big pockets. Other than those I find them inferior choices both practically and aesthetically. They say "kilt" in people's minds, which invites a lot of boorish commentary as people try to connect with all their half-baked ideas around kilting. They catch up-drafts like women's kilted skirts, and are cool on the legs but hot on the waist and abdomen because there is so much fabric in them. They take up closet space like mad and are hard to maintain, and all the metal studs butching them up will make the buzzers sound at the airport and courthouse.

I think it was my second year when I started experimenting with my own designs. Now (8 years later, maybe), to be honest, most of the skirts I wear in public are manufactured as women's wear.
Daryl...
Blackpassage
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Blackpassage »

weeladdie18 wrote:This is an interesting Post. The manufactures claimed that this garment is a mans skirt....
With a lack of knowledge of the traditional Scottish Kilt, the purchaser assumes he is wearing
a Kilt....It does appear to me that the manufacturer has mislead the purchaser into believing
he is wearing what I would call a traditional Scottish kilt when he is wearing a mans skirt

The Garment has been mis named for advertising and marketing purposes

My analogy is for a gentleman to ride a motorcycle and claim he is driving a car.....both are forms
of transport.....The professional gentleman drove his car... the tradesman could afford a brand new
motor cycle ......I am going to use one of my fathers saying...I am going to throw the book at you...

Read , learn and inwardly digest...... read two books .....

THE ART OF KILT MAKING...Currently available from U.S.A .....

MEN in SKIRTS by Andrew Bolton Curator of the V and A. Museum in the U.K.

Supplier is a second hand book shop with world wide supplies of second hand books....

Please do not waste your time arguing with me until you fully understand the contents of both books
And have engaged your brain before you open your mouth....

Please do not insult me further as one post has already been Flagged....with a judgement in my favour.
While keeping in the automotive theme, I offer a slightly different analogy. Both an MGB and and a mazda miata are sports cars. Old school purists may argue however that only one of them can truly be called a sports car. Their position is born of years of tradition and automotive pedigree. To the casual observer, they are just cars, and the augument is pointless. Same thing with traditional kilts vs utility kilts, they are both skirts to me. And although I understand that there is a deep history there, I believe that drawing hard lines in the sand can only slow the evolution we are all seeking.
Happy-N-Skirts
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Happy-N-Skirts »

I wear skirts that resemble shorts as much as possible. Very few people even notice them. I wear them because they are comfortable and practical for my purposes. I was shopping today and discussing skirts with the sales associate. I am well known at the store and they are glad to see me. I wanted to try something on and bought it. I wear skirts more than I used to and in more places. I will be out in nature tomorrow and will be wearing a skirt all day.
Ray
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Ray »

I’m not sure I look like a pantomime dame while wearing a Utilikilt. I love mine. I also love my three proper kilts - each one made in Scotland of course - but I applaud Steve Villegas for inventing and promoting a garment which to me sits between a kilt and a skirt but expands minds and options for men.

There is a time and a place for both.
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by pelmut »

A folk dance caller in the U.K. has worn a Utilikilt for several years and there has never been any suggestion of a 'pantomime dame' look about him - he looks like a very smartly dressed, very manly man.  The first time he wore it a few people commented "Have you seen G...,? He's wearing a kilt".  A short while later the comments became "G...'s calling for the dance tonight" ...and no mention of the Utilikilt.  Now, wearing a kilt in a dance is quite common and non-kilt skirts are starting to appear too.
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Sinned
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Sinned »

Sorry, weeladdie, but I find your remarks about the Utilikilt offensive and appear to be just because the work "kilt" appears in its description and the manufacturer has made the remark that he is selling skirts to men. There's too much baggage associated with the traditional Scottish kilt, for my tastes. How it can be worn, waist, navel, hip, length, and so on. Too regimented. And you just seem to perpetuated that. Get over it. A kilt is a skirt, albeit a more specialised one. I own one but find it too heavy for daily wear. If some like the Utilikilt then why should they have to read books just to be able to make a comment about it.

What's in a name and does it really matter? Things are what they are, no more, no less. In Alice in Wonderland: “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean different things.”"

The answer is yes, you can make words mean different things. In language theory it's called overloading. It's done all the time in Computing. I don't own a Utilikilt mainly because I am too tight to pay the price for one but I would wear one but for that.

Rant over.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
Dust
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Re: Thank God for Utilikilts!

Post by Dust »

When I'm out in a Utilikilt or similar, and someone says something about it, I don't care if they call it a kilt or a skirt. I take the compliment, say thank you, and go away with a smile.

I once had a couple girls come up to me and ask if I was wearing a kilt. I said yes, they got all excited and gave me a hug. I little while later, some guy came up to me all angry to tell me I was wearing a skirt. Caught me slightly off guard, but I just agreed with him. He stormed off and I never saw him again. That was probably the most negative reaction I have ever gotten to what I was wearing. And I think it was over whether it was a kilt or a skirt, not over my wearing it.

So yes, thank God for Utilikilts! They have done more to promote public acceptance of guys in one tube instead of two than anyone.
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