Pleats tied to formality?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

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.

Yup, right around the turn of the century. The earliest I know of that we find reference to pleating to the sett in writing s 1901 in The Kilt & How To Wear It, and the author there describes it as a new fashion - and he says he does not even know what it is called, but describes it as a manner of pleating which reveals the whole tartan.

I certainly cannot recall seeing any kilts from before that time pleated to the sett.
Matt