KiltMan!

I thought you all might enjoy this bit from the Des Moines Register about my dad!

Don Alexander, 65, Ames
Character name: Kilt Man
Where you'll see him: Merchant, Scots Dragon

The key to slipping into a kilt by today's standards probably has more to do with courage than skill.But before the modern kilt came into being in the late 1700s to early 1800s, there was the "Great Kilt," a piece of fabric 5 1/2 to 7 yards long that the wearer had to wrap around himself, said Don Alexander.Alexander, owner of the Scots Dragon, a Renaissance and Scots clothing business, will be demonstrating how to put on a Great Kilt. Volunteers to model the kilts are welcome. "Each time a man puts it on, he has to pleat it and belt it, and we demonstrate how to do that," Alexander said. "It takes maybe five to six minutes. Modern kilts are already pleated and you simply wrap them on and fasten them."Alexander said the shorter modern kilt replaced its predecessor during the Industrial Revolution because the extra fabric of the Great Kilt, usually thrown over the shoulder, kept getting caught in the machinery.Great Kilts cost $90 to $100 each, Alexander said. Modern kilts, which have to be special ordered, run $600 or more.Along with Scots clothing of the period, the Scots Dragon also sells Renaissance clothing for men, women and children designed and made by Alexander's wife, Joanna.So when would you don a kilt? They're not relegated to special occasions, said Alexander, who wears a kilt around the house and has been known to mow the lawn in one."I used to tell people that a kilt is really a substitute for pants, but what I really think is that pants are just a substitute for a kilt," he laughed.