Quote Originally Posted by DTrain View Post
WOW! Thirteen pages and still no "rules," just a lot of discussion about whether to have rules or not.

OK, traditionalists, please let's try to make some sort of centralized list so as to inform all of us of what IS proper. I might agree with deviating from these on occasion but want to know the ACKNOWLEDGED proper attire guidelines. I am not a traditionalist but want to get it right. [snip]
First, although no one has complied a list as such I do think some rules have been mentioned...so maybe its not fair to say "still no rules." The issue of feathers in one's bonnet and the pleats to the rear have been mentioned, at the very least.

I would also come back to something Matt said early on that I thought was significant. Matt referenced "highland dress." If I read and interpreted him correctly, he was saying that kilts such as Utilikits and so forth are not, strictly speaking, highland dress.

I would expand on that notion just a bit and suggest that if Utilikilts are not highland dress, they are not subject to the same "rules" as those who admire and want to emulate highland dress. And neither are their proponents.

Those of us who do admire and wish to wear highland dress not only owe it to history but to the Scottish culture not to thumb our noses at that culture and those conventions. Not deliberately, at least.

On the other hand, I do agree that there is a dichotomy here and those who don't care a fig about highland dress per se should just make no bones about it and do whatever they want.

But maybe just maybe...out of respect, mind you...we should draw a line in our own minds if nowhere else, and not seek to confuse or blend the two.

As for the list of rules above, its a good one as far as it goes but I don't know as if a list is necessary...the only thing necessary is a tiny bit of observation, maybe a pinch of study, a smattering of commonsense, and a whole basketful of respect (there's that word again).

And the thing about respect is that it brooks no thumbing of the nose, no flaunting of the "rules" or it is not, by definition, respect.