I ordered my new kilt 6 weeks ago it it arrived today. I got it from Geoffrey Tailors in Glasgow. As I already have a Campbell kilt, I didn’t really want to get another derivative of that tartan, but what does one do? I couldn’t really get another clan tartan so I was looking at some of the weird and wonderful 21st Century kilts that Geoffrey Tailor does; I actually liked some of the tweed style ones, but in the end I decided that a tartan would be better. I wear my kilt every day to work and now that the tourist season has started I’m getting a lot of comments from the visitors about how great it is to see a Scotsman wearing the kilt to work every day. I think the effect wouldn’t have been quite the same had I not decided on a tartan kilt. But which one?

The brochure I’d picked up in January had a nice brown-looking tartan that both I and Lorraine liked. So I called them about it and it turns out that it isn’t brown at all, but grey. Seemingly the large, well-known kilt makers in the country all have their own design of tartan. The grey one is part of Geoffrey Tailors own design called Thistle. They do a grey one, a claret one, midnight blue one or two others. They were all nice, but we decided that the grey would be the most versatile and I wouldn’t have to add several shirts and hose to the order. If I’d gone for the claret, which was the one I liked best after the grey, I’m not sure I’d have gotten away with all the green and blue shirts and hose that I have to go with my Campbell kilt.

It’s not actually completely greyscale tones. There is a subtle line of green through it which you can make out in the photos and it makes all the difference. They did them also with a line of pink, and it actually looked really nice, but it certainly wouldn’t have gone with my other clobber.

I decided to be a little bit different though and get the hipster version. This is a casual style and differs from the traditional style kilt in that it sits on the hips, where trousers would normally sit. The traditional kilt goes around the ribcage and in summer it gets really hot, so the hipster is now my summer kilt. But as it has less support than a traditional kilt would have, I had to go for a lighter weight (i.e. less material). So this one is made from 7 yards of material rather than the typical 9 yards so it probably won’t have quite the same swing to it. Maybe it will though; I’ve only had it on around the house for 10 minutes and out into the garden for some photos. I’ll wear it to work on Monday and see how I get on.

All in all, I think I made the right choice and it’s thanks largely to Lorraine’s good eye.