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Below is a timeline chart noting some of the major milestones in kiltic evolution:
| Time Period |
Garment |
Gaelic Name |
| 1590 - 1800 |
The Belted Plaid |
feileadh-mor, or “great wrap” breacan-an-feileadh, or “tartan
wrap” |
| The Belted Plaid came about with a public shift toward
very full clothing, combined with a plunge downward in the price of
wool. So much fabric was used for woolen overgarments that the wearer
had no choice but to gather the cloth together into folds and cinch
it around his waist with a belt. When Scotsmen first started wearing
their belts outside all their clothing, this signaled the beginning
of the era of The Belted Plaid. |
| 1650 - 1820 |
Phillabeg |
feileadh-beag, or “little wrap” |
| The phillabeg can be considered the lower portion of
a belted plaid (without a second piece of cloth sewn onto it). It
resembles a modern kilt in overall design, the chief difference being
that a phillabeg is not tailored. An Englishman named Thomas Rawlinson
once tried to seize credit for its invention, but earlier paintings
showing men in phillabegs belied Rawlinson ’s false claims. |
| 1792 - present |
Modern Tailored Kilt |
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| The first tailored kilt—four yards of tartan,
with wide box pleats stitched in—appeared in 1792. The wide
box pleating enabled the wearer to manage his kilt fabric without
all of the gathering and belting required of preceding versions. Should
you ever find yourself in the States—in Franklin, North Carolina,
to be specific—you can visit the first tailored kilt from 1792,
which is on display at that city’s Scottish Tartans Museum. |
1 | 2 | 3 | > Next: Changes in the Modern Tailored Kilt
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