Hot weather kilting in San Diego

[FossilHunter]

I'm Scottish so I wouldn't be able to survive San Diego weather, anything more than 10 degrees Celcius is considered hot by me. The good thing about this is I can survive Scottish winters and some Americans wouldn't be able to. In fact, when it gets a little bit cold and some Americans start to shiver, I would tell them with a smile on my face "This is summer to me!".

What’s funny is that I quite enjoy the cold even though I am a born and raised Californian. However my wife who is from Pittsburgh, which gets quite cold in winter, is cold averse and enjoyed our recent heat wave.

I’d probably love an icy Scottish winter but Mrs. FossilHunter would undoubtedly hate it. Funny how that works.

[Jock Scot]

Thanks for the advice! I will play around with the height next time. You mean increase the space between my knee and cuff correct?

Quite so. I hesitate to also suggest, due to that dreaded camera angle effect thingy, but perhaps you could also consider raising your kilt a tad higher too.

You are quite correct, button down collared shirts are not a usual British choice. In passing, as our weather is not as hot here, but the risk of sun burn is considerable as we have little air pollution then we go for the option of rolling up our sleeves in the heat(?!) or rolling them down if we are starting to burn.Or, the midgies are about, or, our more normal temperatures are about and we need to keep warm!

[SunriseEarth]

It looks good and comfortable to me! The heat wave here in SoCal has been unbearable, so props for still looking dapper. I wore a Sport Kilt with a t-shirt and sandals today.

[Jock Scot]

It looks good and comfortable to me! The heat wave here in SoCal has been unbearable, so props for still looking dapper. I wore a Sport Kilt with a t-shirt and sandals today.

Just a thought. Would a sport kilt, T shirt and sandals be regarded as traditional kilt attire? I think not. In case you hadn't noticed, this is the "Traditional Kilt Wear" section.

[Tobus]

A note on the shirt: I believe that I have read here that button down collars are not traditional in the UK but I wear one as a concession to the fact that it is hard to find short sleeved, button up, shirts here without them. That and I quite liked the pattern of green and blue check on this shirt in addition to the reasonable price of $16 at Costco.

This is a major peeve of mine. I've never understood the American fascination with button-down collars, or why they were invented in the first place. It's not like there's anything special about the USA that causes our collars to flap wildly about if they aren't buttoned down. And in the rare instance where it would be an issue, it's usually nothing that a starched collar with a metal collar stay wouldn't fix. If it's just a matter of wanting to keep a collar flap straight and well-positioned, collar stays do the job just fine. Button-down collars just don't make any sense to me, yet it's difficult to find collared shirts without them.

I usually pass on shirts with button-down collars. But if for some reason I do end up with one (I do have a few), I just leave the collar flaps unbuttoned when I'm not wearing a tie. They only get buttoned if my shirt front is buttoned all the way up to the neck. The reason being, as your photo shows, the buttoned collar stands up oddly when the flaps are buttoned but the shirt front is not.

[Father Bill]

Tobus, I agree that I'd like to get some shirts without the button down (started in the sixties, I believe) but I do like the buttons when I'm wearing a crew neck or high V-neck sweater because otherwise I have to put both collar tabs out or else I end up with an uneven sinking-tab look or one of each. The buttons do address that issue fairly well.

[Stoff]

This is a major peeve of mine. I've never understood the American fascination with button-down collars, or why they were invented in the first place. It's not like there's anything special about the USA that causes our collars to flap wildly about if they aren't buttoned down. And in the rare instance where it would be an issue, it's usually nothing that a starched collar with a metal collar stay wouldn't fix. If it's just a matter of wanting to keep a collar flap straight and well-positioned, collar stays do the job just fine. Button-down collars just don't make any sense to me, yet it's difficult to find collared shirts without them.

I usually pass on shirts with button-down collars. But if for some reason I do end up with one (I do have a few), I just leave the collar flaps unbuttoned when I'm not wearing a tie. They only get buttoned if my shirt front is buttoned all the way up to the neck. The reason being, as your photo shows, the buttoned collar stands up oddly when the flaps are buttoned but the shirt front is not.

Button down collars where invented for polo players.

Here is a quote from a wiki article on dress shirts:

"Button-down collars, or "sport collars" have points fastened down by buttons on the front of the shirt. Introduced by Brooks Brothers in 1896, they were patterned after the shirts of polo players and were used exclusively on sports shirts until the 1950s in America. It is still considered a more sporting style, and, particularly outside America, traditionally dressed men still do not wear suits with this style of collar."

Here is a link to the article: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dress_shirt>

Stoff

[SunriseEarth]

Just a thought. Would a sport kilt, T shirt and sandals be regarded as traditional kilt attire? I think not. In case you hadn't noticed, this is the "Traditional Kilt Wear" section.

My summer outfit was not what most would consider "traditional". Fortunately, this thread isn't about my experience, or it most certainly would be misplaced!

[Nomad]

Nice outfit and well done for wearing it that heat, I haven't worn my kilt for about a month as its been 25-35 degrees in the sun and I'm struggling in shorts and a tee shirt.

To buck the trend, I don't mind button down shirts and have a few, that may be down to having no neck and button down collars tending to be a bit shorter than normal.

The one collar I dislike is where the distance between either side is very wide, as if someone has chopped half of the collar away. Damn, have to correct myself before finishing, the ones I dislike the most are the coloured/striped ones that have contrasting white collars and cuffs, often loved by London city types, yuk 😝

[Jock Scot]

It looks good and comfortable to me! The heat wave here in SoCal has been unbearable, so props for still looking dapper. I wore a Sport Kilt with a t-shirt and sandals today.

Actually SunriseEarth your last sentence above, makes it very clear that you are indeed discussing your "experience"!

Keep smiling.