Kilt

What a kilt is

A kilt is a tailored wrap garment that covers the body from the waist to around the middle of the knees. It is fastened with straps and buckles, usually starting at the wearer's left side, passing round the front and back and crossing the front again. The flat overlapping panels at the front are called aprons. The single layer of cloth running round the sides and back is pleated. A pin can be fixed to the free corner of the front apron; it is there to add weight and is not pushed through the cloth beneath. Traditionally the cloth is tartan, and the garment is most often worn by men.

Origins and history

The great kilt, also called the belted plaid or breacan, appears in records from the 16th century. It was a full-length piece whose top half could be draped over a shoulder or pulled up over the head. In the 1720s Thomas Rawlinson, an English Quaker from Lancashire, found the belted plaid awkward to wear. He cut the skirt free and made it a separate garment with the pleats already stitched. Iain MacDonnell, chief of the MacDonnells of Inverness, took up the same work, and men employed in logging, charcoal burning and iron smelting copied their chief. The shorter kilt, the philibeg, then spread quickly among Highlanders and some Lowlanders. There is also a suggestion that a version with unsewn pleats was made in the 1690s.

Tartan and setts

The pattern of a tartan is known as a sett. Tying particular setts to clans and families reaches back perhaps one or two centuries. Systematic naming and recording came in the Victorian period, mostly through weaving firms supplying the trade; before then most patterns were linked to regions rather than clans. A thread count gives the order of colours and their widths. The Wallace tartan, for example, is written K/4 R32 K32 Y/4, where K stands for black, R for red and Y for yellow. Setts are worked across and up the cloth, not on the bias; the exception is cloth adapted for women's skirts.

Cloth and making

Kilts are usually sewn from twill-woven worsted wool, and the twill line gives the cloth its diagonal texture. Cloth is sold by weight, measured in ounces per yard: regimental worsted runs about 18 to 22 ounces, a light worsted about 10 to 11, and 13 and 16 ounces are the common choices. Heavier cloth suits cold weather; lighter cloth is picked for warm days or for dancing. A modern adult kilt takes roughly 6 to 8 yards of single-width cloth, or 3 to 4 yards of double width. Hems are avoided so the garment hangs properly. Kilts worn by Irish pipe bands are cut in a similar way but use plain cloth, most often saffron or green.

Wearing it today

Formal occasions and Highland games are where most people still see a kilt, and it is also worn for other sporting events. In recent years it has come back as informal men's dress, closer to the everyday garment it once was. Casual versions are made in many materials, may close with different fastenings, and can have pockets so the pouch known as a sporran is not needed. Some women wear kilts for sport. Competition rules in Highland dancing and piping set out what competitors may wear; women taking part in the national dances wear the Aboyne dress.

How Kilt is kept

A kilt is wrapped round the waist and held by straps and buckles. It is buckled so that the cloth is neither loose enough to twist round the body nor tight enough to pull into scalloped ridges where it fastens. The hem is meant to sit between roughly an inch above the kneecap and halfway down it. The flat aprons cross at the front; the pleats lie at the sides and back. A pin may be fixed at the free corner of the front apron for weight. What, if anything, is worn underneath is left to the wearer.

When and where

No single date belongs to the kilt. It is worn at formal occasions, Highland games and other sporting fixtures, and at Highland dancing and piping competitions, where the rules of the organisers state what competitors may wear. Because casual kilts now sell as everyday clothing, they can be seen at any time of year.

Scotland is home to the kilt, above all the Highlands, and it stands for Scottish culture and for Gaelic or Celtic heritage more widely. Kilted pipe bands are found in Ireland, wearing plain cloth. Elsewhere in the Celtic world the garment has been taken up in local forms, including the Welsh cilt and the Cornish cilt. It also travels with people of Scottish descent overseas.

What Kilt means

For many wearers the kilt is a sign of Scottish, Gaelic or Celtic identity, and it marks formal and festive occasions. It is also a practical garment with a long working history. The colours and patterns carry less meaning than people often assume: clan tartans were largely a Victorian arrangement, and before that patterns were linked to regions. According to the sources, the shades in a tartan are a matter of the weaver's choice and do not reflect the wearer's rank.

Questions people ask about Kilt

See also

ChristmasA festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared mealsHalloweenAn annual observance on 31 October marking the eve of All Saints' Day, rooted in Christian tradition and Celtic heritageValentine's DayA Christian feast day and cultural celebration of love kept on February 14 in many countries.Good FridayA solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle
• BBC News | SCOTLANDBBC, Article
• BBC News | SCOTLANDBBC, Article

• Kilt on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.