Behind the Kilt: The Untold History of Highland Garments

 It is widely believed that Scottish Highlanders traditionally wore nothing beneath their kilts. Even today, some continue the practice during festivals, whether to amuse spectators, shock the crowd, or simply express their rebellious spirit. Modern photographs often capture protesters baring their backsides as a gesture of defiance. During the referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom on 18 September 2014, for example, a number of Scottish nationalists famously cast their votes after lifting their kilts.

In earlier centuries, however, the custom had a far more practical purpose. Life in the Highlands was harsh and often dangerous, making unrestricted movement a necessity. Yet ancient historians writing in the first century BC mention a garment known as the bracae, worn by the Celts, the ancestors of the Scots. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes bracae as loose-fitting woollen or leather trousers, fastened at the waist and around the ankles.

Another important garment inherited from the Scots' Irish forebears was the leine, a long linen tunic gathered in pleats, slit for ease of movement, and secured with a belt. It appears in the saga of the Norwegian king Magnus Barefoot, who visited the western isles in 1093 and described the Highlanders as follows: "...they go almost bare-legged, wearing short leines and an outer garment." Magnus adopted their style of dress himself, earning the nickname Barefoot. It is quite possible that the bracae and the leine eventually evolved into what later generations regarded as Highland undergarments.

Batoni, Pompeo (1708-1787) - General William Gordon of Fyvie 1776

One postcard from The Clans of the Scottish Highlands series (London, 1845), commissioned under the patronage of Queen Victoria, portrays a well-educated Scotsman seated with a book, dressed in tartan trews. His modest doublet and the absence of a brooch to fasten a great plaid suggest that he was a man of learning rather than noble birth.

DID IT REALLY EXIST?

The Highland shirt remains the subject of lively debate. Some historians maintain that Highlanders wore a lace-up shirt as early as the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Today such garments are commonly sold at Highland festivals as the ghillie shirt, also known as the Jacobite shirt.

Many Scottish costume historians, however, argue that the Jacobite shirt is a modern invention with little historical basis. Whatever its true origins, it has become an established part of contemporary Highland dress worn for dancing, ceremonies, and festivals. Its open neckline, fastened with a leather lace much like that of ghillie brogues, lends the wearer a distinctly rugged and masculine appearance, complementing the effect of the kilt itself.

THE SHIRT OF BATTLE

The harsh climate of northern Britain, and especially the Highlands, forged a people who valued practicality and survival above convention. Before charging into battle, Highland warriors often threw aside their great plaids and fought almost naked.

A famous legend tells of the Blar-na-Leine, or "Battle of the Shirts," supposedly fought in the mid-sixteenth century between the MacDonald, Fraser, and Cameron clans. Highlanders are also said to have cast off their plaids during the Battle of Kilsyth in 1645, fought between the Royalists and the Covenanters during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

According to military historian Fergus Cannan of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, author of Scottish Arms and Armour, Scottish warriors who fought the English at Bannockburn (1314) and Flodden (1513) wore saffron-dyed linen leine croich, a garment inherited from the ancient Gaels of both Scotland and Ireland. Cannan believes that this type of leine remained in use throughout the Middle Ages until the sixteenth century.

Because saffron dye was extremely expensive, poorer clansmen improvised. Some dyed their shirts with horse urine, while others crushed bark and leaves to achieve a rich golden-yellow hue for their battle tunics.

A SPLASH OF COLOUR

The coloured flashes worn with Highland hose are the decorative strips that protrude beneath the turned-over cuffs of the stockings. (See the photograph below, where red flashes are paired with blue hose.) Originally, these were simply the loose ends of coloured garters used to secure the stockings in place.

Their purpose is to complement the colours of the tartan worn with the kilt. When a Highlander tucks a sgian-dubh, the traditional small knife, into the top of the hose, usually on the right leg, the flashes can create the illusion that the knife is resting in cloth scabbards. In reality, this is merely a pleasing visual effect.

This is how Highland garters appeared in the early eighteenth century.

ROLL DOWN YOUR HOSE!

The ancestors of today's Highland hose were little more than strips of cloth or leather wrapped around the lower leg. An observer describing the Highlanders in 1688 wrote:

"Their thighs were bare, their calves strong, and their feet were shod in light brogues over variegated cloths wrapped around the legs and secured with a pair of striped garters."

Traditional Highland hose are long woollen stockings, usually reaching just below the knee. Their tops are folded down to form a thick cuff immediately beneath the knee.

Performers of Scottish Highland dancing and competitors in the traditional Highland Games often wear Argyle-patterned hose decorated with diamond motifs. The most common colour, however, remains cream, the natural shade of bleached wool. In the accompanying photograph, a piper (2013 model) wears coloured hose with bright red flashes. As a rule, the colour of the hose is chosen to harmonise with the tartan of the kilt.

Historical description: A ruler of the Isle of Man in 1688 described the highlanders whose feet were covered with thin brogues over "variegated cloths wrapped around the legs and secured with a pair of striped garters". Evolution into stockings: Later, these pieces of cloth turned into long woolen stockings that were traditionally worn no higher than the knees. Construction: The upper part of such stockings was folded down, creating a thick cuff right below the knee. Modern times: Nowadays, the most common color for hose is considered to be cream (the color of bleached wool), although participants in dances and games often choose a version with an Argyle diamond pattern, and their general color scheme is usually matched to the tartan of the kilt.