Day 56 - Photograph

 

PHOTOGRAPH

Prompt - Photograph : Write a story or journal entry influenced by a photograph you see online or in a magazine

I returned to the ranks of the occasional kilt wearers almost four years ago, after long ago given up on them after an embarrassing incident almost half a century before.  The initial motivation was joining in the spirit of event when I did Kiltwalk, but I found I really enjoyed wearing my kilt at other times too.  It does change the way you feel about yourself when you wear one, and it seems to alter the way other people see you too, but it's  pleasure in itself, a totally different feel to walking around in my usual denim.  

They are (were? will be? what tense do we use in these strange covid times of lockdown?) a common enough sight on the streets of Edinburgh these days, and worn in such a variety of styles that there are no limits to their appropriateness.  Changed times from my younger days when if you saw a man in a kilt he'd invariably fit into one of four categories.  He was attending a wedding, in a pipe band, in the military, or, worst of all, an American tourist seeking out his 'heritage'.  They would be worn as part of a more or less formal outfit.  

Changed times where tee shirt and walking boots are now the most commonly sighted combo.  Kilts abound at Scotland rugby matches, at parties, on the street, on days around town and evening sout on the town.  They have been adopted by younger Scots guys as a marker of their nationality, in a UK that is rapidly falling apart.  They are still worn to weddings, but in increasingly different outfits.  Many still hire, but ownership is increasing.  Dress it up, dress it down.  Wear a cargo kilt.  They have long since shed tartan as their sole design, and you can easily pick up a camo kilt if that's what lights your bunnet.  And kilted yoga gurus and fitness instructors, spartanly dressed in tartan and boots, have gained a big following online.

But none of them sum up the changed social attitudes of the twenty first century better than the kilted photos I've chosen today.  It's called progress.