Pleats tied to formality?

[figheadair]

I was taught "to the stripe" was first; military. alot of pipe bands do it as a group.
To the sett is harder to pleat than to the stripe or "to the block".

That's a myth that's been around for many years but is a misunderstanding of the historical development of kilt pleating. If one looks at kilts from the c1800-1850 period, civilian or military, they are principally pleated to stripe although the odd early civilian kilt is pleating to nothing in particular. I don't know when pleating to sett started (I'm sure Bob Martin has an approximate date) but think it was late C19th or early C20th. It was pleating to sett that gave rise to the so called traditional 8 yd kilt.