Kilted Scottish gentleman in Tudor court

[Drac]

Good day all,

Been wearing this setup for a few years and while my wife is a purist when it comes to HA she lets me bend things a bit.

Wanting to know how far off the grade I am here.  Normally I wear a 5 yard with knife pleats.  With that I have a doublet, standard "Ren" shirt you get at most retailers and the knee high swede/brushed leather moccasins. 

Now things will be a bit different for the next season.  I have an 8 yard kilt coming in and have gotten a set of gillie brogues, though are a modern style.

If I understand from my wife's lectures normally a Scottish gentleman would not be kilted in Henry/Elizabeth's courts.  The 8 yard pleated kilt would not exist for quite some time.  Family tartans are a Victorian romance concept.

So haw far off am I?  Is there anything that can be done to"tweek" it in without destroying everything or should I just get use to be anachronistic?

Thanks,
Drac

[Zardoz]

Drac, it's unlikely any sort of kilt was seen in Henry the VIII's times, the earliest documentation does not seen to support it.  They were around by the reign of Elizabeth I, but I kind of doubt she saw too many Highlanders at court, although Mary Stuart may have seen some 4-6 yard belted plaids in Scotland.
Tailored kilts didn't come along until much later, and modern 'gillie brogues' are a 20th century thing.
http://www.albanach.org/generations.html

I have toyed with the idea of adding a bit of tartan to fake up a belted paid look, as shown here;
http://kiltmaker.blogspot.com/2008/04/now-thats-plaid.html
That's a tweek you could try...

[Drac]

Thx Zardoc, I like that.  A bit of work but very nice.

I've just done a draped fly plaid up til now.

On the foot wear since I won't be investing in the popular Ren boots (have to buy more kilts) I take it the foot wear I've been using would be better than the gillies? 

Again I know that this will be anachronistic but I want to not stand out as being a total miss out there.  My wife's dresses are normally done well enough she has got complements from fair workers.

Drac

[Zardoz]

Footwear is a little harder to nail down, many Highland men either went barefoot, or wore open gillies or 'bog' shoes.  Fancy shoes were usually simple brogues which tied or, if you had money, buckled.   The brogues would be worn with wool bag socks, seamed up the back, and tied on.  Wool leggings (footless knee socks) were occasionally worn, with or without gillies.

http://www.nativearth.net/sandal.html

http://www.renaissancemoccasins.com/footwear.html

http://www.orbitals.com/self/history/stocking.pdf

[DonaCatalina]

Drac, it's unlikely any sort of kilt was seen in Henry the VIII's times..

Zardoz is correct.
The earliest known mention of a kilt was by a French Ambassador to the court of King James IV. I have the document index at home buried somewhere.
He viewed the garment as barbaric and decried what he saw as disrespect to the king by the highland barons who came to court in long gowns, their checkered wraps and showing their bare legs.
However, no one has ever found mention that any highlanders visited Henry VIII's court, barons or commoners.

But no one else is deterred from wearing a kilt at Faire...