I dont like the look of either a kilt too high above the knee or below the knee. Sure there are arguments for both, and for guys who tell me they want to do a lot of hiking in their kilts I tell them go shorter, above the knee for the reasons James mentioned.

I also wanted to point out that wearing a UK anywhere around midcalf or even much below the knee at all is an exception, rather than the rule. By far the majority of the Utilikilts I see are somewhere on the kneecap, either near the top, the middle or the bottom. Its more rare to see it either well above or below, especially more than an inch either way.

I'd also like to point out that looking 'skirty' is a cultural value, not an absolute. Here in the US its the short kilts that look 'skirty', more so than the long ones. For a guy to wear a kilt here anything more than an inch above the knee would get him lots of looks, and probably more than a few comments. In fact when we DO sell utilikilts anywhere near that length it is almost always at a gay pride event and the wearer only intends to wear it to clubs and fetish parties.

Kilts that are overlong just look stupid IMO.