Recently someone remarked that I wrote about men who wear skirts. I couldn’t just smile and let him make fun of my Highlanders so I asked him if he thought he could wear a plaid with the same courage and distinction as the Highlanders. He corrected me, letting me know it was called a kilt.
Depends on the time period said I, and therein started the discussion.
In my research I found that there is no reference to the kilt before the 16th century. Prior to that time it was referred to as the belted plaid. It was about nine feet long and made of heavy wool. It was draped around the body and pleated, the proper way of doing it, no one knows for sure. The plaid also served as a sleeping blanket, a way to keep the wearer warm when needed. If you go back before 1093, you’ll find that short tunics were worn. So basically Highlander men have been wearing skirts for a long time.
As for the first Tartan kilt, it seems that weavers created their own designs and colors using vegetable dyes. Over time specific designs began to identify clans.
Now all this is very interesting, but what I find the most important is that the Highlander warriors look great in skirts, tunic, plaids, kilts; whatever name it’s given the Highlander men wear the garment with courage, strength and pride.
I can’t resist watching a movie about a Highlander. The very first one I ever saw was an old film called The Ghost Goes West starring Robert Donat (1930s I think). He was dressed in full kilt regalia and I was enthralled. My mother loved watching old movies, so I was raised on them, and gratefully so. I think I fell in love with love when I saw Daphne Du Maurier’s, Frenchmen’s Creek (1944) with Joan Fontaine and Arturo de Cordova. Not a Highlander movie, but a romance. And you wonder why I write romance.
Back to kilts. No one can argue how great Adrian Paul looks in a kilt in The Highlander series. I’ve seen every episode several times and they still delight me. Christopher Lambert starred in the move The Highlander and though not bad, he can’t compare to Adrian Paul. Then there’s the movie version of the series The Avengers. Though the movie was so-so, the scene where Sean Connery is dressed in a kilt – was fantastic, but then so is he. And his performance in The Highlander is memorable. Also Liam Neeson did justice to the kilt in Rob Roy. Then there’s Braveheart with so many men in skirts that you don’t know who to look at first.
So I admit that I love men in skirts. What about you? Who is your favorite Highlander in a movie?
