Looking at Steve's article and post again, there is one thing that bothers me in the way I have been thinking about this. I think it is our concepts of the non-traditional kilt that are evolving more than the physical garment. The garment is an expression of those concepts or ideas.

In other words, the non-traditional kilt is more or less an expression of a set of basic ideas, and it is on the level of the idea that it evolves.

One of the ideas involved with a lot of the non-traditional kilts is that an individual can choose between several options in the design of the kilt, like materiel, pockets, etc. That makes the concept of the non-traditional kilt highly evolvable around the conceptual framework of pleats in the back aprons in the front.

To me, it does seem that it would be better to think of this as an evolution in our thinking about kilts and our cultures than an evolution in the kilt. I suppose many other types of garments are going through this, as well; cargo pants, for example. That being said, the physical expressions of those concepts can inspire and influence further innovations in our thinking and ideas about new garments to produce with the framework of pleats in the back, aprons in the front. Dawkins, for evolution, calls this self-feeding, I think the complexity theorists usually call this a positive feedback loop.

There, got it out of my head. Hopefully it made some sort of sense...