I've recently been reading on the Jacobite conflicts, and as someone of Scottish heritage it got me thinking - when did the kilt and tartan become popular?
I've read late 1600s by some accounts, but I've also seen tartan referenced of early Celtic peoples.
I feel as though the style had to have some kind of gradual origin that is not often discussed, otherwise it would seem to be a very drastic departure from clothing styles throughout Europe during those times?
Kilts as we know of it as the tailored and pleated garment didn't start until the late 18th or early 19th when the Highland revival came out. What the sources of the 1600s are referring to are the belted plaids or féileadh mór. This garment was about 4 to 6 yards long and on average 50” to 60" wide (made from two lengths of 25” to 30"wide cloth sewn together).
The feileadh beag didn't come around until later in the 17th century, depending on who you talk to, and was similar to the belted plaid only in the fact that it was 25" wide cloth that was wrapped around the same way.
The first instance of the modern is in the military in the 1790s. These first tailored kilts were box pleated to the line. There was no tapering, the pleats were sewn down about 5 inches, and the length of the kilt was selvedge to selvedge (about 25”). The amount of cloth used was between 3.5 and 4 yards. Tailored kilts for civilian wear soon followed suit, only these were pleated to nothing (i.e. to no particular line or pattern), until about 1820 when they, too, began to be pleated to the line.
Check out Albanach.org for more info. Matthew Newsome is a great source of info on the kilt, and all round historian. He is well regarded in that field though and has put years of research into it.