I have never worn buckle shoes but have been thinking about a pair, as I reassemble formal wear for kilted occasions. I used to have a pair of Ghillie Brogues and while they were comfortable, I just never really liked the laces running up my shins. I am most likely going with a nice set of wing tips that I can wear kilted and not as the occasion dictates.

I do not consider buckle shoes feminine but I have seem some styles that definitely are closer to what women wear than what men wear in modern American taste and style.

I don't understand how wearing buckles on one's shoes forwards the cause of Scottish independence at all, but I am always interested in learning history, so maybe I will try and look this up.

I have seen add on buckles on a small piece of leather like the tongue of a shoe in catalogs, that I guess could be worn with any lace up shoe, although from the few pictures I have seen I can not envision how they are actually worn in my mind. I have never seen a picture of anyone wearing these types of buckles that I know of.

Of the various buckle shoes in this thread, I have seen some I liked and others I did not. So I guess as with everything else, to some extent this is a matter of personal taste within reason.