Fraser outfit
I had been attending a weekend of activities with The Kilts Group which usually met in Edinburgh but we did other venues as well. All the guys, mostly gay but some bis like me, were interested in kilts and most wore them to the get togethers. We had our own Burns Night and we also went to the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard Ceilidh usually held in the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh.
One visit I stayed on till the beginning of the next week since I like Edinburgh so much. I took the opportunity to visit a second hand kilt shop at South Queensferry. It is just under the Forth railway bridge. I had bought a few kilts and jackets there previously and usually looked in to see what they had. As I walked in I saw that the assistant was new. She was a young lady, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, so quite a lot younger than me, probably less than half my age. She was very attractive and vivacious. She remarked on my kilt, a second hand army kilt in McKenzie tartan, and how nice it was, how I suited it etc.
As I looked around the shop I was immediately struck by a tailors dummy dressed up in a dark green army doublet with a darkish kilt below it. Although the jacket in particular was badly worn, with some buttons missing, it still looked incredible. I enquired about the size and, yes, it would just fit me. Then the price and I was very disappointed to hear that even in the damaged state the jacket and kilt was Β£175. I could see that it would require cleaning then quite a bit of work to repair it all. The assistant pointed out that it was a proper army kilt, like the one I was wearing and not a cheap one. She told me that it was a TA kilt in Fraser tartan. Would I like to try it on? I was a bit reluctant to get her to undress the dummy and then redress it if I didnt take the outfit but she didnt seem to mind. Then she produced a little tartan bundle and shook it out. I saw that it was a pair of matching trews, they were of the same Fraser tartan, but much washed and very faded.
"It comes with these little matching underpants," I heard her say, then she giggled. "I dont know if you wear anything underneath with your kilt.........?" Another giggle, and she looked at me speculatively. I smiled back but didnt enlighten her.
"It was not generally allowed to wear underpants with a kilt in the army! So these are not army issue. They must have been made up separately. Perhaps he was an officer? They were sometimes allowed to wear pants for dancing," she added.
I only just heard all this since I was so taken with the little trews she was holding out while she chattered away. Perhaps it was just as exciting for her as it was for me or perhaps she was always like this.
"Would you like to try the kilt on as well as the doublet?" she asked.
I would very much and she undid the buttons on the doublet then undid the kilt buckles. I could see that one of them had almost fallen off. The so called tartan underpants were of a strange design and the elastic at the waist had perished.