Out and About -- In the World at Large

General discussion of skirt and kilt-based fashion for men, and stuff that goes with skirts and kilts.
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ScotL
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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FLbreezy wrote: Fri Dec 23, 2022 1:57 pm
ScotL wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:30 am That’s awesome! I’ve so few experiences walking around in a kilt but the times people stop you and comment like this just put you on cloud nine.
The kilts really seem to invite positive comments, don't they? I was fixing the headlight in my wife's car yesterday in a kilt and our mail carrier pulled up to the house to drop off a package (we have a really long driveway, back in the woods). She laughed and said "You always make my drive up here worthwhile." :lol:
I suspect the world truly appreciates the courage of dressing differently but can’t comment in the positive unless it doesn’t break stupid gender norms.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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Well, it's been quite a while since I've picked up any flak about my attire (usually it's all entirely positive), but yesterday -- Christmas (when we're supposed to treat our fellow man well) -- I picked up a few really snide comments whilst I was in the men's room relieving myself where I took Christmas dinner with a few friends. "What the F..K is this country coming to where you see things dressed like that in public!" Morons.

Even though the meal was good and tasty (sashimi) I don't think I'll be going back there if that's the sort of clientele they have. I've got enough problems in my life; I don't really need any more.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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crfriend wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 5:36 pm Well, it's been quite a while since I've picked up any flak about my attire (usually it's all entirely positive), but yesterday -- Christmas (when we're supposed to treat our fellow man well) -- I picked up a few really snide comments whilst I was in the men's room relieving myself where I took Christmas dinner with a few friends. "What the F..K is this country coming to where you see things dressed like that in public!" Morons.

Even though the meal was good and tasty (sashimi) I don't think I'll be going back there if that's the sort of clientele they have. I've got enough problems in my life; I don't really need any more.
Morons indeed. Such men have no concept of the facts. Facts being that men used to wear everything until women started "borrowing' and the great male renunciation.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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Barleymower wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 7:58 pmMorons indeed. Such men have no concept of the facts. Facts being that men used to wear everything until women started "borrowing' and the great male renunciation.
I would be tempted to put the word "men" in your comment in heavy quotation marks to show the sarcasm. These are not men in any real sense; they're little boys who haven't matured enough to have the vaguest clue of how the world works. One might think that the entire society is stuck in a state of arrested development. It almost makes one want to simply give up in despair. Unfortunately, if that happens, "they" "win".

At least it didn't result in an altercation.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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crfriend wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 8:19 pm
Barleymower wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 7:58 pmMorons indeed. Such men have no concept of the facts. Facts being that men used to wear everything until women started "borrowing' and the great male renunciation.
I would be tempted to put the word "men" in your comment in heavy quotation marks to show the sarcasm. These are not men in any real sense; they're little boys who haven't matured enough to have the vaguest clue of how the world works. One might think that the entire society is stuck in a state of arrested development. It almost makes one want to simply give up in despair. Unfortunately, if that happens, "they" "win".

At least it didn't result in an altercation.
I agree that no man worth his salt would act in manner you describe. I have two boys aged 9 and 15 and neither would act in this manner either. So these "men" are not boys either.
No this is a leaneed response. A response which cements themselves with the other "men" and reassures them of their own self worth. It's something they hang onto in world that no longer values them.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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crfriend wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 5:36 pm Even though the meal was good and tasty (sashimi) I don't think I'll be going back there if that's the sort of clientele they have. I've got enough problems in my life; I don't really need any more.
I don't think that's fair to the restaurant. You can find such people most anywhere, sometimes. How could the management screen them out?
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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Barleymower wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 9:10 pmI agree that no man worth his salt would act in manner you describe. I have two boys aged 9 and 15 and neither would act in this manner either. So these "men" are not boys either.
You have raised principled lads. Well done. I wish more parents would. By the by, that shot of your youngest one in the skirt (looks more like a tutu) and tights reading is nothing short of magical. A happy boy indulging himself and hopefully improving his mind!
No this is a leaneed response. A response which cements themselves with the other "men" and reassures them of their own self worth. It's something they hang onto in world that no longer values them.
If that is indeed the case, then it points up one area in which society has abjectly failed.

I'll get over this, it was just noise from a buffoon after all. The best thing is that reactions like that are quite rare in these parts. I do not mind honest questions and curiosity in the least -- in fact I try to encourage it. But this was not curiosity; this was overt hostility.

To Jim's point, I'll likely reconsider the decision, but not any time soon even though I was looking for an excuse to haul out my ornate Japanese chopsticks (lacquered, pointy, and inlaid!) for a quiet meal when my lady-friend arrives, but I worry that the memories in the near term would throw the proverbial spanner into the works. And, for that, other options are available within driving range. (Although, hilariously, the chopsticks work very well on Mexican fajitas! Which remains an option as well. She already knows I'm nuts.)
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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crfriend wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 9:45 pm
Barleymower wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 9:10 pmI agree that no man worth his salt would act in manner you describe. I have two boys aged 9 and 15 and neither would act in this manner either. So these "men" are not boys either.
You have raised principled lads. Well done. I wish more parents would. By the by, that shot of your youngest one in the skirt (looks more like a tutu) and tights reading is nothing short of magical. A happy boy indulging himself and hopefully improving his mind!
No this is a leaneed response. A response which cements themselves with the other "men" and reassures them of their own self worth. It's something they hang onto in world that no longer values them.
If that is indeed the case, then it points up one area in which society has abjectly failed.

I'll get over this, it was just noise from a buffoon after all. The best thing is that reactions like that are quite rare in these parts. I do not mind honest questions and curiosity in the least -- in fact I try to encourage it. But this was not curiosity; this was overt hostility.

To Jim's point, I'll likely reconsider the decision, but not any time soon even though I was looking for an excuse to haul out my ornate Japanese chopsticks (lacquered, pointy, and inlaid!) for a quiet meal when my lady-friend arrives, but I worry that the memories in the near term would throw the proverbial spanner into the works. And, for that, other options are available within driving range. (Although, hilariously, the chopsticks work very well on Mexican fajitas! Which remains an option as well. She already knows I'm nuts.)
They are principled, much to my surprise. I'm pleased to see it. My own is a chequered history, parts of which I would rather forget. I have tried to do right with my own though. The skirt is a tutu/pettiskirt
https://amzn.eu/d/i5xWpgJ
It's so fluffy!

They may be not responsible for their actions, in a "forgive them for they know not what they do" way. I would not waste any time explaining what has happened to them. It's pointless.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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Barleymower wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 10:08 pmMy own is a chequered history, parts of which I would rather forget.
Welcome to the morass that it is to be fully human!
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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Jim wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 9:20 pm
crfriend wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 5:36 pm Even though the meal was good and tasty (sashimi) I don't think I'll be going back there if that's the sort of clientele they have. I've got enough problems in my life; I don't really need any more.
I don't think that's fair to the restaurant. You can find such people most anywhere, sometimes. How could the management screen them out?
Agreed. Knuckledraggers can be found practically in any retail establishment.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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I guess I shouldn't be, but I'm always surprised by the difference in the reaction I get when I wear a kilt as opposed to an "ordinary" skirt. I often wear skirts and generally get little or no reaction. Yesterday, though I got four (!) positive comments (one unusual one) in less than a mile

Background. Yesterday was New Year's Day, a holiday with most stores remaining open. In Philadelphia, where I live, it is also the day the Mummers (all 10,000 of them) parade down Broad Street with their feathers, sequins, and banjos in a 100+ year tradition. My house is only about a ten minute walk from the parade route and my neighborhood is filled with extra police details and mummers who have imbibed a bit before wandering off the parade route. My journey starts with a trip to the local Whole Foods supermarket for a couple of ingredients for our New Year's dinner.

Encounter #1 - a group of 4 policemen on bicycles pass me on the sidewalk. One of them shouts at me and says "That's a great kilt!" He then turns to his partner, a woman about half his size, and tells her that he bought his first kilt two days ago but hadn't had a chance to wear it yet.

Encounter #2 - I bump into a (male) neighbor in the lobby of the supermarket. He asks me what clan I belong to.

Encounter #3 - neighbor's wife shows up and says "that's fantastic" and then she notices my kilt pin, asking where she could get one like it. She often wears pins to weigh down her skirts but thinks that most pins for women are too feminine and my pin is just what she's looking for.

Encounter #4 - I'm leaving the supermarket to go home and as I'm exiting, a group of mummers approaches. Three are dressed yellow pseudo-satin with white trim as is common in something called the "wenches brigade" style. They are are swinging yellow umbrellas with frilly ruffles as trim. A fourth mummer is also in pseudo-satin but he's dressed like a pirate and has a stuffed parrot sewed onto his shoulder. It is likely that the cups they keep sipping contain a beverage other than coffee. The pirate looks at me and bellows "My that's a fine looking kilt my lad" in a horrible impression of an Irish accent.

Encounter #5 - I'm almost home and a woman walking quickly behind me overtakes me. As she does, she tells me that she's so happy to find a true Celt (me I suppose, but my ancestral tree has most of its roots in the US) in Philadelphia. I find out that she is the last member of her clan (OK) and she can't stop and talk with me because her spirit needs to be nourished. She walks on by.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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alexthebird wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 1:17 pm I guess I shouldn't be, but I'm always surprised by the difference in the reaction I get when I wear a kilt as opposed to an "ordinary" skirt. I often wear skirts and generally get little or no reaction. Yesterday, though I got four (!) positive comments (one unusual one) in less than a mile

Background. Yesterday was New Year's Day, a holiday with most stores remaining open. In Philadelphia, where I live, it is also the day the Mummers (all 10,000 of them) parade down Broad Street with their feathers, sequins, and banjos in a 100+ year tradition. My house is only about a ten minute walk from the parade route and my neighborhood is filled with extra police details and mummers who have imbibed a bit before wandering off the parade route. My journey starts with a trip to the local Whole Foods supermarket for a couple of ingredients for our New Year's dinner.

Encounter #1 - a group of 4 policemen on bicycles pass me on the sidewalk. One of them shouts at me and says "That's a great kilt!" He then turns to his partner, a woman about half his size, and tells her that he bought his first kilt two days ago but hadn't had a chance to wear it yet.

Encounter #2 - I bump into a (male) neighbor in the lobby of the supermarket. He asks me what clan I belong to.

Encounter #3 - neighbor's wife shows up and says "that's fantastic" and then she notices my kilt pin, asking where she could get one like it. She often wears pins to weigh down her skirts but thinks that most pins for women are too feminine and my pin is just what she's looking for.

Encounter #4 - I'm leaving the supermarket to go home and as I'm exiting, a group of mummers approaches. Three are dressed yellow pseudo-satin with white trim as is common in something called the "wenches brigade" style. They are are swinging yellow umbrellas with frilly ruffles as trim. A fourth mummer is also in pseudo-satin but he's dressed like a pirate and has a stuffed parrot sewed onto his shoulder. It is likely that the cups they keep sipping contain a beverage other than coffee. The pirate looks at me and bellows "My that's a fine looking kilt my lad" in a horrible impression of an Irish accent.

Encounter #5 - I'm almost home and a woman walking quickly behind me overtakes me. As she does, she tells me that she's so happy to find a true Celt (me I suppose, but my ancestral tree has most of its roots in the US) in Philadelphia. I find out that she is the last member of her clan (OK) and she can't stop and talk with me because her spirit needs to be nourished. She walks on by.
If wearing a kilt ever becomes commonplace or not noticeable, I will miss the great comments made in reaction to a man in a kilt.
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Re: When is a kilt not a kilt?

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…when it’s a skirt!

At the practice for our church band this evening, an elderly gent was sharing a reflection on how little we really know people. He waved his hand towards me and said, “when our friends arrived, I knew nothing about them except that he wears a skirt to band practice.”

I’ll forgive you if you weren’t aware that due to domestic opposition, I have not worn a female marketed skirt since moving to London in the summer. I have, however, taken every opportunity to wear my two plain kilts (and occasionally my tartan kilt). Most cafe members have a problem with people identifying their skirts as kilts. It seems this gent (who sits on the far side of the band from me) has not recognised the pleats and apron, yet doesn’t seem fazed by the garment. If only my wife could be so accepting.
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Re: When is a kilt not a kilt?

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greenboots wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 4:58 pm …when it’s a skirt!

At the practice for our church band this evening, an elderly gent was sharing a reflection on how little we really know people. He waved his hand towards me and said, “when our friends arrived, I knew nothing about them except that he wears a skirt to band practice.”

I’ll forgive you if you weren’t aware that due to domestic opposition, I have not worn a female marketed skirt since moving to London in the summer. I have, however, taken every opportunity to wear my two plain kilts (and occasionally my tartan kilt). Most cafe members have a problem with people identifying their skirts as kilts. It seems this gent (who sits on the far side of the band from me) has not recognised the pleats and apron, yet doesn’t seem fazed by the garment. If only my wife could be so accepting.
This cafe member has no problem identifying the kilt as a skirt. Call a spade, a spade.

I wore a kilt this winter holiday and the only comment I got was from a woman who stumbled over what to call what I was wearing but ultimately said “kilt”. She said she loved it and her face reflected genuine approval.

I’m also ok with people having a hang up on calling the spade, a spade. As all members of this cafe are at varying levels of wearing openly, I think we should always be supportive. If you need to call your skirt a kilt to be comfortable wearing it out, great! Do so.

I can obviously only speak from personal experience, but my first two adventures skirting were proof to me that words matter. I wore a stretchy black, pocketed skirt the very first time driving to a hotel in a town I’d never know or run into anyone. Added first time jitters, but I was a wreck. Despite absolutely nothing being said, done or revealed, I wore the completely black kilt the next day in that town where this hotel lied. Instantly did I experience two over the top complements on my kilt.

So I became a kilt wearer. Not a skirt wearer. As I look back on it now, both the black skirt and the black kilt are remarkably similar yet the fact one was called a kilt by someone else made all the difference.

But as much as I’ve made my peace with this ‘in name only’ distinction, I am still way more comfortable with the kilt.

With continued support, this too will fade. I’m sure. But I need to do it at my pace or risk a setback.

And I think this adventure of mine may strike chords with others. Yelling at me to stop being a wuss and just do it, will not work. Support me as I do it with encouragement and examples, and it’ll happen.

And as much as when I’m “out there fully,” I am totally assured I will think I should’ve done this earlier, there is a time and place for everything and I feel a lot of our angst comes from impatience.

These are just my two cents on the matter. If anyone feels like this is biting commentary or a personal attack, please realize this is not my intention. I post in hopes of debate and discussion.
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Re: Out and About -- In the World at Large

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This cafe member has no problem identifying the kilt as a skirt. Call a spade, a spade.
I’ve no problem either. I was just amused and pleased that someone went straight for the generic term, even though a cursory inspection would tell him it was a kilt. Though to be fair, he sits about 15 feet away in the cornet section while I play trombone. So he may not get a good enough view to see apron and pleats.

The gentleman came to me after our Sunday morning service to check where I’d been offended by his mentioning my skirt. I told him no, and didn’t see the need to say more. It does suggest that if I got a bit more adventurous there would be no repercussions - except on the domestic front :(
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