how to wear modern kilts

[CMcG]

<snip>

Modern kilts can be dressed up - IF you want to...

As Riverkilt has admirably demonstrated, I guess a modern kilt can be dressed up... so I decided to investigate spats with a UK too. Lo and behold, I found a fellow who wore them together for his wedding! Interestingly enough, he does not appear to be wearing the "tuxedo" model UK.


What put me off about the article was the attitude demonstrated by the author. He was chastising UK wearers and spelling out rules, which goes contrary to what I think about modern kilts generally and especially against the way UK brands themselves. So my issue with the article is not so much the author saying that one could dress up a modern kilt, but rather that one must categorically do so.

I wonder if the author is actually a kilt wearer... apparently he is Polish-Chicagoan, now living in Seattle but his bio doesn't say anything about the bifurcation (or lack thereof) of his clothes.

[Jordan]

While I would say uk's are meant to be worn in a casual way, like Ron demonstrated they can be dressed up but I think only to a certain extent. I would think its hard to pull off a black tie outfit for example.
That said, its just my opinion your mileage may vary.
Jordan

[Zardoz]

That was about the most useless article about kilt wearing I've seen. And I've seen quite a few! oop:

When you wonder why a newbie kiltie is so poorly turned out, it's because of junk like that.

[toadinakilt]

We should send him a stern letter. And tell him to join XMarks, maybe we can win a convert.

[wildrover]

That was hilarious.

I think you guys are missing the forest for the trees, though.

Setting aside a few key points:

I am a guy, and slouching with my legs spread is a God-Given Right.
I will never, ever wear "knee highs". They are for girls.
I have no idea who Tim Gunn is, and I don't care.
I am not a "lad". I am a "guy". On a good day, I might even be a "man".
"Spat" is the past tense of "spit", unless you are in Full #1 Dress or similar.

...I honestly don't see what the fuss is about. Yeah, some of the stuff he writes is a complete joke, but what he's saying in general is turn yourself out well. If you're not in public, nobody cares...I wore my kilt, a two-tone sleeve skater shirt, and BTF flops over to a buddy's place last night. 'Course, it was also 2330 and our good friend JD was joining us ...but the key there is, not public, and among friends. In that case, my kilt is more like a towel that I can answer the door in, and @#$% if anyone else is uncomfortable, because while they're sitting in their own stink, I'm enjoying Scottish A/C. Going out in public? Put a little thought in to it. You wouldn't wear slacks with your pajama top, right?

May I quote? Thanks ...

Listen, be-kilted dudes, things will turn out much better once you realize this fundamental fact: kilts are not merely substitutes for pants. They require different outfit considerations and even minor behavioral adjustments. Furthermore, they are, for worse and worst, still "exotic" pieces of menswear. As such, they are visible. Thus, wearing a kilt while violating good fashion and social practice elsewhere in your outfit not only magnifies the shortcomings of the outfit as a whole but it degrades this garment for menswear in general.

Also, it makes you look like a buffoon.

Solid advice! I have noticed that within the supportive confines of this forum, it's very easy for us to think that anything goes, and assume that everyone else should just accept us in all our unconventional glory...and that's simply not realistic. Nowhere in any document does it state that anyone has any right to not be offended by anything, nor does it say that anyone is ever granted the right to be free from hearing that they're "doing it wrong".

...For example, what we're doing to this guy about his blog post.

"Don't be a buffoon" is as succinct as anyone could put it. So, why is it so hard a rule to follow? We're not immune, I'm sure I've done it myself, and we can all pull photos from the forum (but we're not gonna). It's already a difficult rule, in an environment he correctly identifies as being overly casual...but it's an impossible rule to follow, if we're all entirely convinced of our own kilted cognizance and the duty of the general public to bask in our kilted glory.

Despite what the casually-biased media says, flip-flops and Crocs are not acceptable anywhere outside the shower and garden, respectively, or perhaps the emergency ward if you are a doctor. Just don't do it. Period.

I can think of a few more places than shower and garden, but I understand what he means.

2) Knees together, gentlemen!

No. My testicles will pursue their manifest destiny, I do not want them "pleasurably compressed", and I have never had a problem with unintentionally flashing anyone.

Across the board, the introduction of the generic mens-sized t-shirt as an outergarment is the biggest abomination to have entered the fashion world. Men's t-shirts don't fit; they hang. And, given our boggling propensity for oversized shirts, they hang with the grace of cheap church curtains. We've seen far too may stretched-out t-shirts sloppily draped over a kilt. Don't try to dress it up with an open, buttoned short over it. You may be wearing not-pants but you are not fooling anyone: it looks dopey.

Solid advice!

Besides, wasn't it just the other day that a bunch of kilted rabble claimed ignorance of t-shirts? If you're so top shelf that your only concept of a "t-shirt" is a white, short-sleeved cotton garment meant to be worn only under a buttoned dress shirt, then you surely understand what he's going on about in this paragraph. If not, then you definitely need to understand what he's describing!

You may have noticed a pattern: clothes should fit and not hang. We're tired of a world full of frumpy Adam Sandlers, and it causes us pain to see kilts done wrong. Go ahead and free yourself from the tyranny of trousers... but please exhibit some style and taste when doing it.

There is absolutely nothing off-mark about that paragraph, and any guy who aspires to be a well-dressed gentleman should keep it in mind.

BTW, the author quite bluntly states that he wears skirts. BFD. I don't care what he wears, as long as he can tell a kilt from a skirt when he sees either, and doesn't confuse the two. His general fashion advice is sound, even if he gets a bunch of the kilted details all screwed up.

We should send him a stern letter. And tell him to join XMarks, maybe we can win a convert.

I am very leery of inviting a crossdresser to wear a kilt, particularly when he generalizes a dislike of hypermasculine kiltedness (I have never seen this, except in a couple UK commercials. The reality is not so!). The result I'm picturing is a caricature, and not complimentary to kilt-wearing in any way.

-Sean

[Paul]

That was hilarious.

I think you guys are missing the forest for the trees, though.

Setting aside a few key points:

I am a guy, and slouching with my legs spread is a God-Given Right.
I will never, ever wear "knee highs". They are for girls.
I have no idea who Tim Gunn is, and I don't care.
I am not a "lad". I am a "guy". On a good day, I might even be a "man".
"Spat" is the past tense of "spit", unless you are in Full #1 Dress or similar.

...I honestly don't see what the fuss is about. Yeah, some of the stuff he writes is a complete joke, but what he's saying in general is turn yourself out well. If you're not in public, nobody cares...I wore my kilt, a two-tone sleeve skater shirt, and BTF flops over to a buddy's place last night. 'Course, it was also 2330 and our good friend JD was joining us ...but the key there is, not public, and among friends. In that case, my kilt is more like a towel that I can answer the door in, and @#$% if anyone else is uncomfortable, because while they're sitting in their own stink, I'm enjoying Scottish A/C. Going out in public? Put a little thought in to it. You wouldn't wear slacks with your pajama top, right?

May I quote? Thanks ...
Solid advice! I have noticed that within the supportive confines of this forum, it's very easy for us to think that anything goes, and assume that everyone else should just accept us in all our unconventional glory...and that's simply not realistic. Nowhere in any document does it state that anyone has any right to not be offended by anything, nor does it say that anyone is ever granted the right to be free from hearing that they're "doing it wrong".

...For example, what we're doing to this guy about his blog post.

"Don't be a buffoon" is as succinct as anyone could put it. So, why is it so hard a rule to follow? We're not immune, I'm sure I've done it myself, and we can all pull photos from the forum (but we're not gonna). It's already a difficult rule, in an environment he correctly identifies as being overly casual...but it's an impossible rule to follow, if we're all entirely convinced of our own kilted cognizance and the duty of the general public to bask in our kilted glory.

I can think of a few more places than shower and garden, but I understand what he means.

No. My testicles will pursue their manifest destiny, I do not want them "pleasurably compressed", and I have never had a problem with unintentionally flashing anyone.

Solid advice!

Besides, wasn't it just the other day that a bunch of kilted rabble claimed ignorance of t-shirts? If you're so top shelf that your only concept of a "t-shirt" is a white, short-sleeved cotton garment meant to be worn only under a buttoned dress shirt, then you surely understand what he's going on about in this paragraph. If not, then you definitely need to understand what he's describing!

There is absolutely nothing off-mark about that paragraph, and any guy who aspires to be a well-dressed gentleman should keep it in mind.

BTW, the author quite bluntly states that he wears skirts. BFD. I don't care what he wears, as long as he can tell a kilt from a skirt when he sees either, and doesn't confuse the two. His general fashion advice is sound, even if he gets a bunch of the kilted details all screwed up.

I am very leery of inviting a crossdresser to wear a kilt, particularly when he generalizes a dislike of hypermasculine kiltedness (I have never seen this, except in a couple UK commercials. The reality is not so!). The result I'm picturing is a caricature, and not complimentary to kilt-wearing in any way.

-Sean

Sean, I really must diagree with the quotes. Firstly, often I look to replace trousers with the kilt - otherwise I don't look like myself in a casual setting. Therefore, in the fashionable modern world people generally don't tuck t-shirts in, and neither do I. I don't tuck mine into the kilt, as I often buy them quite tight-fitting anyway, so they're not bagging and they really don't hang.
As for being a well-dressed gentleman. There is a time and a place, and I certainly can dress-up in my kilt. But that's what it is - dressing up. I don't run around in tweed Argyll jackets during the day and prince charlies in the evening. I, for one, could be described as a rather sloppy teenager who can often be well-dressed in the correct setting. Anything upto semi-formal, I am keen on dressing much like a young person - kilted or not.

So basically when I wear a t-shirt, I wear it untucked - kilt or not. When I wear a shirt I often wear it tucked-in.

[CMcG]

<snip>
What were we talking about? Oh yeah...that Gunn guy and his malarky advice column. I cared so little what he thought that completely lost track of what this was all about.

Let's at least attribute this correctly; Tim Gunn is only referenced in the article and is not the author.