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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Some Irish authors maintain that the male skirt made in tartan fabric was originally dressed in Ireland, and that from there it was introduced in Scotland after Irish-Scots tribes settled in Caledonia around the 5-6th century A.D. The alleged Irish predecessor of the Scottish kilt was called Léine and was a kind of long tunic that stretched down to the knees.
Scottish historians do not agree with their Irish cousins and believe that the real predecessor of the kilt was not the Irish Léine but the Scottish Plaid. The Plaid is a short tartan blanket which is cast over the shoulder and fastened around the waist by a belt. This was worn mainly in the Scottish Highlands as an all-weather outfit that also served as a bedroll for sleeping outdoors.
Both Scots and Irish can claim to be right in their own ways, for the Highland Plaid could indeed have evolved to a shorter garment -the kilt- and the Irish Léine was a knee-length garment which was dressed long before the modern kilt. Yet, long before the Irish were dressing their Léine and Scots were wearing their Plaid, the Galicians were already wearing knee-length male skirts made in tartan: the first Kilt ever recorded!
Dated ca.400 B.C, giant statues were carved in southern Gallaecia (the ancient name of modern Galicia) to honour regional or perhaps high kings of the country.
Those Galician kings are portrayed in a military fashion, in the same way that many mediaeval kings and earls, wearing their sword and shield. But the striking thing about those statues is the way they are dressed. Those men are wearing kilts, over which distinctive patterns of squares and lines are carved as to represent a primitive tartan fabric.
The Galician statues were carved more than five centuries before the first record of the Irish Léine, and almost two millenia before the modern Scottish Kilt.
Moreover, Ancient Gaelic mythology (Irish, Scottish and Galician) tell that the Gaelic tribes of Ireland and Scotland descend from a great migration of Gaels who departed from Brigantia, in the North-West of Galicia. This has been supported by modern DNA research confirming that the original peoples from Ireland, Scotland and Galicia share a common genetic ancestry.
Considering that the Galicians were wearing kilts as early as the 3rd century B.C.
and that Galician Gaels settled in Ireland and kept maintaining trading relations between the two lands ever after, some Irish and Scottish historians may want to review their position and accept that the first record of a man wearing Kilt (as a male skirt made in tartan cloth) is neither Irish nor Scottish, but Galician!
In 18th century Scotland the kilt was a rural garment worn only by people living in the Highlands. Urban Scotland was following the fashion codes which were standard in Europe at the time.
In 1746 the Jacobite army supporting Scotland's royal pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie was defeated at the Battle of Culloden. Since many Highland men fighting for the Jacobites were dressed in tartan and kilt, the British government decided to forbid the wearing of tartan as that could be interpreted as a sign of support for the Jacobite rebellion.
The prohibition of wearing tartan lasted for 36 years until it was abolished in 1782. Inevitably, the ban backfired and the ancient kilt-and-tartan Highland fashion was immediately promoted as Scotland's national dress during the 19th century Scottish cultural revival.
Scotland's best known regiment, The Black Watch, fought alongside the Galicians in the Battle of Corunna, 1808
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The return of the kilt as a masculine fashion garment started in the late 18th century as the kilt was adopted as the official uniform of the Royal Scottish Highland regiments.
One of the very first places in Europe to see kilted soldiers in action was Galicia, where the Scottish Black Watch regiment fought alongside the Galicians against the French in the Battle of Corunna in 1808.
Some years later, Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott convinced King George IV of Great Britain to dress in "the garb of old Gaul" during his 1822 State visit to Scotland.
Sir Walter Scott told the King that he should wear the kilt during his State visit to Scotland in order to gain the respect of the Scottish people who had formerly supported the Jacobite cause.
At the same time Sir Walter Scott -who was in charge of organising the Royal visit- told the guests that they were expected to dress in the Highland fashion, as the King would do himself.
Modern Scottish dress, incorporating elements of the 20th century European fashion like the tie and jacket.
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The royal reception was to take place in the city of Edinburgh, but the kilt was a rural garment worn only by people living in the Highlands and therefore the Scottish urban aristocracy was not used to wear the kilt.
Sir Walter Scott moved rapidly and printed an instruction booklet so the Scottish urban nobility would know how to dress in the Highland fashion in time for the Royal reception.
The Royal event in Edinburgh was a full success and ever since then, the kilt has been an essential part of the Scottish national dress and has been most commonly associated with all things Scottish.
The way the kilt is worn has evolved significantly over the past century. Some people wear it in a "traditional" style with plaid and jacobite shirt, as in the old Highland fashion. Some others prefer to dress it in a more sophisticated manner, incorporating elegant elements of the contemporary European fashion such as the tie and the suit jacket.
Following the Scottish experience, the kilt was also reintroduced to a lesser degree in the other Celtic nations during the 20th century revival for all things Celtic.
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Looked great too but I have promised him for his 40th I will buy him a kilt so I best start saving now 
Shona
x x x 
