[x]

The kilt not invented until the 19th century? Somebody should have told Mel Gibson. William Wallace and all his braveheart lads are in kilts. The Irish too.

Supposedly kilts go back at least as far as the 16th century.

The myth is probably that they are ancient and go back to the earliest days.

Also, it had been Highland garb, and it's not clear whether Lowlanders wore kilts before the 19th century revival.

And those distinctive patterns for different families probably were also more or less the invention of 19th century commercial interests, or at least they systematized what had been sketchy and uncertain.

You can see the same process going on even today.

"Irish county" tartan patterns have been "discovered" or created in our own lifetime.

[Ditter]

I have never figured out how the Scots and the Irish got started with kilts. I have been to both countries and it was cold even in July.