To ask Scots if this would offend them ...

[UsedtobeFeckless]

Basically DS, who has a Scottish great grandmother but is 7/8ths non-scot, wants to wear a blackwatch tartan kilt to a formal event. He's googled which tartans it's ok to wear if you're not entitled to a clan one but DP is a bit worried it might look like cultural appropriation ... Any thoughts would be welcome!

Scots generally are pretty welcoming to anyone embracing their 1/8th Scottish heritage! And he can wear any kilt he wants.

More men should wear kilts. They look great.

There are no ‘rules’ as such, as to who can wear tartan. Remember, offence is only ever taken, never given!

If he wore it with pride and recognition of his Scottish roots then he should definitely wear it and love it - I'm not Scottish but have lived here for years to a local man and I have asked this question a lot about a lot of Scottish culture. I think people would take a slight offence if he wore it in a fancy dress sort of way and took the piss and acted like Braveheart. But then even then ....

My mum and I moved to Scotland years ago. Most of the men in both mum's and Stepdad's families at their wedding wore kilts, my own boyfriend being the only Scot in the lot.
When my boyfriend and I got married, there were loads of kilt wearers too, both English and Scottish. It's not cultural appropriation, it's welcomed by all (except English hating rabid Yessers)

Scottish. Wouldn't care about a kilt.

Agree that those with non Scottish heritage (interestingly I would class a Scottish Granny as heritage) need to chose one of the generic tartans.

Our family one is horrible so my brother has the "modern hunting" version....clever marketing device by the weavers methinks to have multi-variants of all tartans!

I’m not remotely offended and I’m sure no-one else would be. Kilts are excellent so why not? I went to a wedding where both grooms, of Chinese heritage living in England, had chosen to wear kilts, and they looked great.

NB The only problem was that when they came to get dressed, neither of them were quite sure what to do with all the bits: sporran, sock flashes, sgian-dubh, shoe ties, etc. (I had to dash round the back to help them out). So if he’s going for the full kit, maybe practise first.

I love the rob roy tartan
That's mine courtesy of a great-great-great grandfather.

Of course a near Sassenach can wear a kilt and not offend as long as they are under-panted nicely. Those Sharon Stone moments are only for true Scotsmen. Exposing your nether regions to the wind whilst bekilted would be cultural appropriation and is a definite no-no for your DS.

Liz agrees with me.

I think it's unlikely he'll be be purseued out the door by outraged locals waiving their sgian-dubh at him!
If my vague memories of Scottish history at uni are correct tartan was found across many Celtic peoples across Europe. Plus modern 'clan tartan' has only been around for a few hundred years so he's not treading on the toes of years of tradition.

That should a) say "pursued" and b) 'thousands of years of tradition'. We need an edit button!

We don't care. Cultural appropriation is a big pile of horseshit.

Couldn't have put it better myself

I think the main difference between the kilt example and the lederhosen example is not cultural appropriation, it's that lederhosen look ridiculous and kilts are sexy as hell.

*wanders off to watch another Outlander episode......

Wouldn't bother me one hot, I think it's nice he wants to remember his heritage even 7/8ths of it!

Blackwatch tartan is beautiful too

It's a shame more men don't wear kilts more often.

You will find he might be restricted to generic tartans anyway depending on where he is hiring from as not many kilt shops carry the full range.

And, for hygiene reasons, you are usually asked not to be a true Scotsman in a hire kilt.

dh/ds wore kilts for a wedding last year and had to go to the shop for measuring/reserving (they didn't do trying on unless you were in the wedding party), they picked the kilts up 2 days before and had to go back the day before as it didn't quite fit/sit right, especially gents sizes on ds(15), he needed a size down on most of the measurements. His kilt needed to be bigger so it hung between the knees when sitting like the guy to the right of the Queen, rather than sat across the knees like the quy to the left.

*jot not hot!

Please let us have an edit button MN!🤦🏻‍♀️

No Basic Instinct moments! He's definitely wearing boxers he's got a nice sporran and is going for the big boots so as to avoid any footwear faux pas ( and he really likes big boots ... ) black shirt, black jacket, hair in a back plait - l think he's going to look great! ( totally biased )

Cultural appropriation you say? Okay dokey! A fundamental characteristic of being truly scottish is not giving a fuck for other people trying to foist their rules and opinions on you. So tell him to embrace his inner Scot, wear a kilt and choose whatever tartan he wishes.

Honestly, no decent Scot will mind at all.

DH is 100% Irish and wore a kilt at our wedding, and has worn them to events since. No-one bats an eyelid.

There is a tradition of Irish kilt wearing but with county tartans rather than clan. Not as big or as long a tradition as it is/has been in Scotland but still a part of Irish culture. I can guarantee that thousands of Irish men are wearing them today, mainly in marching bands.

Another proud Scots that thinks it’s great he wants to wear it ! especially as he has Scottish ancestry. However it wouldn’t bother me or anyone else I know if he didn’t have Scottish connections there’s nothing that beats the kilt!

Agree, I’m Scottish and wouldn’t be offended. Everyone I know has always been very complimentary about a non Scottish man wearing a kilt

I think victorian industrialists made dress tartan a thing to boost the economy which is fair enough

There are videos online and DH needed to watch them on out wedding day.

Is the event in Scotland?
I wouldn't be offended but would think an English person wearing a kilt in England was a bit