Physiometrics and standard lengths

[auld argonian]

Okay...there's a new crop of Stillwaters available and I'm once again seeing a couple posts from members who are automatically thinking about how to shorten them from the standard 24 inch length. I was asking this question myself a couple of years ago when I first got into this rabble but I realized that I was just trying to wear them too low and once I hiked them up they fit fine and felt better. Now I'm somewhere between 5' 10" and 5' 11" (depending on whether or not I'm standing up straight) so I figure that that's about average though I've seen posts by guys in the six-foot-plus group who say that theirs fit just fine.

I realize that everybody's body is not only sized differently but proportioned differently as well. We make the generalization that one should measure at the navel but is everybody's navel positioned in the same place relative to his "natural waist"? I have to think that that's not possible. Length of the thigh bone, size of the "buttock-ial" region, weight distribution...there are a lot more variables involved than just waist, hips and length, eh?

I have heard that there's more engineering involved in making a brassiere than there is in making a suspension bridge...and I seem to recall Steve of Freedom Kilts saying that kiltmaking tests even his engineering background. It seems to me that since we have so many members now we could create a pretty good data base of the physiometrics of all of our kilties and maybe figure out any other significant dimensions or proportions that should be included when one is ordering a kilt long-distance. I'd certainly be interested in hearing from any of our kiltmakers about some anomaly that they've encountered that threw them a curve in the process of making a garment.

And I hope that the guys that are getting the 24 inch lengths are wearing them high enough and aren't leaning forward to look and see if it's too long...if you lean forward, it will look too long...stand up straight and look in a mirror or get someone to spot you and tell you how it looks.

I guess that Douglas Adams postulated that the answer to everything was "42"...I suppose that in off-the-rack kilts it's "24".

Best

AA

[Matty Ross]

Measuring and wearing a kilt at the navel just does not work for me. With my pot belly and pudgy rolls on my side and back. I wear my kilts at my hips or else they are very uncomfortable. Therefore as much as I love SWK I need about a 21 inch kilt or else they hang below my knees.

[Ayin McFye]

I'm a pretty standard looking guy, and 24 inches has always served me well. I'm 6'0" about 190lbs. I don't have much of a butt either so I don't have to worry much about that. I think I got lucky when it comes to standard kilt lengths actually working perfectly for me.

[Larry124]

I'm a pretty standard looking guy, and 24 inches has always served me well. I'm 6'0" about 190lbs. I don't have much of a butt either so I don't have to worry much about that. I think I got lucky when it comes to standard kilt lengths actually working perfectly for me.

That's me also.
In the warm and hot temperatures of summer I like the waist a little lower and the length a little shorter so 23", or SK's stock 22.5", and even AK's at 22" work fine for me.

[DavidM]

I'm a pretty standard looking guy, and 24 inches has always served me well. I'm 6'0" about 190lbs. I don't have much of a butt either so I don't have to worry much about that. I think I got lucky when it comes to standard kilt lengths actually working perfectly for me.

I'm the same stature too. I just ordered and received the WPG Gordon Highlanders kilt (a true tank at 22oz) which is a bit large (I ordered a 40" waist when my 'actual' measurement is 39") even with the buckles pulled in tight. So my question is if I give my 'actual' measurements to the kiltmaker, would the fit be, for lack of better terms, mid-buckle? I say 'actual' because I could either grow (and the WPG kilt would fit perfectly), or 'actually' exercise and get a new kilt taken-in.

I would never return the WPG kilt (first kilt, first love) And I un-did the basting, anyway.

[Nanook]

differently as well. We make the generalization that one should measure at the navel but is everybody's navel positioned in the same place relative to his "natural waist"?

Of course not. But then the length of a kilt is not "set in stone" save the concept that it should, in general, be no longer than to the middle of the knee and no shorter than the middle of the thigh. Most of us, however, tend to wear kilts in lengths from just over the knees to a hand's width or so above.. That's a pretty significant range! Same, of course, with jackets.. guiding measure is not body height but arm length, shoulder width and waist size. On someone with a long torso (Michael Fred Phelps) a jacket will fall differently than on someone of same height with a short torso. Going even the bespoke route.. what's the "right place"? Ask 3 tailors and you'll get no less than 3 different answers.

[slohairt]

I'm 6' 1½" 170lbs. and I can't even consider a Stillwater, as I need 25½" length.

[Ian.MacAllan]

. . . Douglas Adams postulated that the answer to everything was "42" . . .

42" is a reasonable candidate for modal waist size---among Americans past 40, at least.

I wonder what the significance is of the fact that 42 is 6*7.

.

[Woodsheal]

I'm 5' 8.5", and I can wear a 24" kilt only if the top is just under my ribcage, military style. But, SWKs aren't really configured with that military rise, so they just look wrong on me. I wish Jerry would add 22" kilts to his line. His sales would go through the roof...!

[george7]

I'm 5' 8.5", and I can wear a 24" kilt only if the top is just under my ribcage, military style. But, SWKs aren't really configured with that military rise, so they just look wrong on me. I wish Jerry would add 22" kilts to his line. His sales would go through the roof...!

Ditto!