According to the Hungarian sociologist, Baron Nopcsa, it is believed that the Illyrian kilt became the original pattern for the Roman military dress. Thus, because of its similarity to the Celtic kilt, it is theorized that the Roman legions in Britain, through the presence of its Illyrian element, probably started the fashion among the Celts.
Moreover, it is also interesting to mention that, the Celtic word for “Scotland” is “Alban”.
Unless a Scotsman is not a part of a military regiment, a part of a pipe band or something else, one wearing a kilt can freely accessorize it in different ways.
Some of the usual accessories are : Headgear, belts, sporrans, hoses, ghillie brogues, pins etc.
There are 2 types of headgears : Balmoral(named after Balmoral Castle in Scotland) and Glengarry(named after Glengarry valley in Inverness). As you can see, both of these headgears are quite similar, they both have trailed ribbons, a small ball on top called toorie. The only difference is that the Glengarry hat is wedge-shaped, while the Balmoral hat is rounded.
These hats usually are diced in the middle and can be of different colors.
The kilt belts are worn usually for decorative purpose… but the interesting fact about them is that in the early 18th century, they were worn in order to secure the kilt from falling down.
The sporran is the ancient kilt’s modern pocket version. As traditionally a kilt was manufactured without pockets, the sporrans could be worn, to carry necessary things.
There are many types of sporrans, from the simple sporran to the military one, which is used to carry more stuff.
A small knife called “Sgian Dubh”, a longer one called “dirk”, and different pins, could be accessorized in the kilt for decoration.
Hoses, are long stockings, turned down in the knee, with the most common color of them being the cream color.
Ghillie brogues are the kilt’s shoes. They’re often worn from pipe band members, and have a great variety of styles, as...