 When and why were kilts worn in Scotland? And why were they banned? The earliest known time when the kilts was worn was at the end of the 16th century, in the form of the belted plaid or the Great Kilt, sometimes referred to as a Breakin. According to certain sources, the earliest recorded reference to the Great Kilt comes from 1594. The Great Kilt itself is thought to have been inspired by earlier Willing Cloaks, known as Brats, and I don't mean annoying children. The Great Kilt had an additional piece of material than the modern inversions, material that would drape over the shoulder and could be brought up over the head as a hood. The Kilt was traditionally worn in the Highlands of Scotland, with it having many practical applications given this climate. Many kilts could be unravelled and used as blankets at night and used during the day to protect against the weather. The fact that kilts stopped at the knee also meant that the bottom of the material would not get wet whilst hiking through the rugged Highland lands, unlike trousers. Kilt may come from the Scots word for tucking clothes around the body, although some say that the word has an Old Norse origin, coming from the Nordic word Kajalta, meaning lap fold of a gathered skirt. The pattern of the Kilt may have reflected the wearer's clan or region, although clan tartan designs on kilts seem more to be a modern invention. Originally, tartans may have reflected regions as opposed to clans themselves. The major move to drop the upper posture of the Great Kilt is said to have taken place in the 1720s by Thomas Rawlinson, an English industrialist who established ironworks in the Highlands, following the suppression of the Jacobite Rising of 1715. Rawlinson felt that the Great Kilt worn by the Highlanders he employed was too cumbersome and unwieldy for this work, which included manufacturing charcoal from the forests and smelt iron ore. Rawlinson turned to a local tailor who developed a Kilt which consisted of the lower half alone, with pleats already sewn. This tailored Kilt was later adopted by the Highland regiments of the British Army. The structure of the Highland clan system in Scotland meant the allegiances of clansmen lay with God, their clan chief and their monarch, not with the central government. Thus, for the central government, destroying Highland culture as part of a systematic breakdown of the clan system was an important objective. A few months after the Jacobite Rising of 1745 was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. King George II of Great Britain in Ireland imposed the 1746 Dress Act on the Scottish Highlands as part of the Act of Prescription. This legislation banned the wearing of numerous items of Highland dress, including many versions of the Kilt, although officers and soldiers in his Majesty's forces were exempt from this ban, i.e. only those serving in the British Army could legally wear a Kilt in the Scottish Highlands. Any civilian caught wearing the Kilt could face imprisonment for the first offence and transportation for the second offence, as the Act states. If any such person shall presume after the first day of August to wear or put on the aforesaid garments, or any part of them every person so offending being convicted shall suffer imprisonment without bail during the space of six months, and that being convicted for a second offence shall be liable to be transported to any of his Majesty's plantations beyond the seas, there to remain for the space of seven years. The ban was lifted in the early 1780s, with somewhat of a revival taking place in subsequent decades. After much of the British aristocracy worked so brazenly to destroy the Highland culture, many royals and aristocrats later adopted the Kilt. For instance, King George IV of Great Britain and Ireland from 1820 to 1830 featured in a portrait wearing a Kilt, although he was not alone in his social class. In an astonishing twist, the aristocracy first largely destroyed the wild and independent Highland culture that the Kilt embodied, and then adopted the Kilt for themselves as some sort of symbol of the establishment in many ways. Furthermore, many government regiments went on to wear kilts in numerous wars, including the Black Watch Regiment in WWI. A year into WWII, the Kilt was apparently banned in the British Army as it was considered impractical, although it was sporadically and symbolically worn at points by some officers and soldiers. In relation to whether underwear was worn under kilts, it probably came down to personal preference. Some say that the tradition of not wearing underwear under the Kilt was started by the Scottish Highland regiments, hence the expression going commando. But who knows if this is true or not? Today, the Kilt is probably worn most commonly at weddings as a symbol of Scottish national identity. It's ironic that many of the Highland people and families of Scotland who invented and developed the Kilt were persecuted and driven out of their own land, with the Highland clearances being just one example of this.