Scotsman’s lament over kilt’s drop in popularity

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 49

Scotsman’s lament over kilt’s drop in popularity

By

JANE EYRE,

AAP correspondent through NZPA Inveraray, Scotland

You can always tell a Scotsman who is not used to wearing a kilt. The knees are a tell-tale white, and he looks a little self-conscious when he sits down.

So says Niall Mac Lean somewhat contemptuously as he punches a fist on to a green-kilted thigh. Mr Mac Lean is a hotelier in the heart of Campbell country — Inveraray — and is a one-man campaign to revive this dying tradition. This ruddy-cheeked, grey haired Scotsman has worn a kilt for 40 years — ever since he came out of the Army. A Scotsman wearing a kilt as everyday dress is a rare sight indeed in the Highlands. “It really distresses me that most Scotsmen don't wear them,” says Mr Mac Lean.

“They just get hidden in the wardrobe and come out for weddings.” The traditional dress of the Highlander is a favourite spectacle for tourists who buy tartan goods by the mile.

There must be some de-

gree of disappointment when they never actually see it being displayed other than for ceremonial or staged occasions. It is a garment the British banned after defeating the clans at Culloden in 1746 and has always been a symbol not only of the Highlander’s defiance but of his ethnic difference.

Now, however, they are reserved for ceremonial occasions, pipe bands, and weddings, a situation that stirs Mr Mac Lean to great nationalistic eloquence. “Teachers, hotelkeepers, shopkeepers, doctors — all sorts of people could be wearing the kilt as a matter of course. Obviously bricklayers and builders labourers could not get away with it,” he said. His hotel, the Argyll Arms, overlooks the beautiful Loch Fyne, and just round the corner looms Inveraray Castle with its Camelot towers, so is Mr Mac Lean just getting into the tourist swing of things? He can blind you with a bit of Gaelic and roll clan history across his tongue like good malt whisky. “Of course, the tourists love to see it, but that’s not the reason I wear it,” Mr Maclean said. “The local doctor here is a Sikh and he

hasn’t stopped wearing a turban.”

"It is a very manly garb, warm in winter and cool in summer,” he says with an imposing swish of the pleats. According to Mr Mac Lean, the Highland societies must take their fair share of blame for the demise of the kilt. “All the officials wear trousers. They should be prepared to encourage it to the hilt; it is after all the garb of the Highlander,” he said. The Scottish Tourist Board is also not keen on the kilt and haggis image, but in this ready-to-wear age, what about the cost of being kitted out? Kilt-making is an art form — each one generally being sewn by hand and taking up to six weeks to complete. Mr Mac Lean says it will cost $4OO for a kilt, and about $829 to be completely kitted out.

“A couple of good suits will cost more than that,” he said. “A kilt outlives many a pair of trousers. The tattier it gets the better it looks.” On the rare occasions he does wear trews, he claims the townsfolk in this whitewashed eighteenth century

town do not recognise him. “I didn’t recognise my own father the first time he wore a suit,” Mr Mac Lean said.

“He was going to London and had put on a jacket and trousers, and I didn’t know who he was.”

These days, Mr Mac Lean claims most Scotsmen feel a little silly and self-con-scious wearing a kilt. Scottish private schools have kilts as part of their uniform, but it would be a brave boy who wore one to a State school.

The ribbing would be unbearable. In fact, even in Mr Mac Lean’s schooldays, this was the case and his first taste of wearing one constantly came at age 17, when he went into the Army.

He admits it would be an expensive proposition to keep a growing boy in kilts. “You can always tell a Scotsman who isn’t used to wearing one though. Their knees are white and they don’t know how to sit,” Mr Mac Lean said.

There only remains one question — the oldest one of all — what does a Scotsman wear under his kilt?

The Highland regiments, says Mr Mac Lean, forbade the wearing of anything underneath the kilt as it was not considered Army issue.

In his own case, he is not prepared to admit a thing. “I’ll leave it up to your imagination,” he says.