what's under the kilt?

While America was celebrating Thanksgiving, this past week was St. Andrews Week here in Scotland culminating on Tuesday with St. Andrews Day. To celebrate, we went to the St. Andrews Day Gala Ball on Saturday at the St. Andrews Bay Golf Resort. It was a black tie occasion, so I was supposed to hire (rent) a kilt (man-skirt). I figured that this was the only time in my life that I would be able legitimately to wear a kilt, so I went for it (along with four other friends).

I decided to get a Stewart plaid in honor of my maternal lineage. They were out of Royal Stewart, so I got Stewart Black--but I think I like the Black better anyway. It came with a jacket, bow tie, socks, garters (sock tassels), ghillie shoes (funny shoes with extra long laces), sporran (man-purse), and sgian dubh (knife to put in your sock). I particularly enjoyed the sporran. It was very useful for storing my wallet, keys, and whisky--especially since there was no pocket on the kilt.

At the kilt shop, we ventured the age-old question of what to wear under the kilt. Is it really like Braveheart? Much to our relief, we discovered that it's not like the movies and you are supposed to wear something under your kilt. What is that something you ask? Three drops of cologne. Unfortunately, I don't wear cologne. So I had to go bronco.