Contemporary Kilts -- a Visual guide....

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I usually wear Bates 11" Paratrooper Side Zip Boots. In all honesty they don't fit my narrow feet well, but I originally liked the look with the high polish toe cap (and slightly brogue-like pattern on the edge of the toe cap) . I believe they are a little tall, but that’s what I’ve got, so that’s what I’m going to wear for the foreseeable future. I have some square-toe brown Ariat work boots, and some standard brown leather hikers that I've worn before, too. Plus a couple of outings in flip flops.


I believe I dress in a “contemporary” fashion, but use some “traditional” components in my style. In this case I was playing with my band at my house for my own birthday party over the weekend. I haven’t managed to have a great photo taken of me while playing with the band in my kilt, but the obscured outfit shown below includes a light blue button-up shirt, black kilt belt, big buckle, cheap black day sporran, 8 yard 13 oz. wool American Heritage tartan kilt, kilt pin, Lovat blue hose (scrunched down), and the paratrooper boots:



This next photo shows similar outfit (with equally poor photography, if not worse) and was previously posted to XMTS. I'm wearing a black shirt, tan hose, and Lovat blue flashes. Everything else from my knees to my waist is the same:



Some might say these particular combinations lean pretty far toward a modern/casual THCD style, but scrunched down hose and paratrooper boots or an off color shirt help to disqualify them, depending on who yo ask. I just wanted to look “kind of nice”, but wasn't necessarily trying to be traditional on purpose... although I fully understand that the traditional accessories might make it appear so.

I will also wear the same kilt with a polo or t-shirt, hikers, work boots, or flip-flops, etc... like in this odd selfie from US Independence Day:



I plan to run a 5k race kilted this weekend wearing running shoes with my "All Ireland" tartan original Sport Kilt and an workout/technical shirt. That's pretty contemporary, I think. I might wear my black hose with the matching tartan flashes, but that might just make my look a little bit to silly... my cheap black hose might not be great for my feet during the race.


I've also started my first X-Kilt project (though I can’t get very far without a workable sewing machine), which is part of another thread. Hopefully there will be more photos of that process (and wearing my kilts in the wild) to post in the future.