Question on how to wear a belt with kilts

[A Hay]

I'm with the group that finds wearing a belt through the loops is more comfortable because it prevents the kilt from drooping in the back. I've tried it both ways and that works best for me.
Having said that, two of my lesser quality kilts have the loops a little off center, and one even has three loops, the extra being on the left side near the buckle! My other two kilts are of better quality and have loops in the proper locations.

I like to wear a belt if I'm going out in a kilt because I think it completes the outfit's look. The exception being with a waistcoat, then it is too much.

If I'm just wearing a kilt around the house in the evening, no belt and no sporran.

But to each their own. Whatever works for you is fine.

Tom

[David Dalglish]

I think the kilts have developed over the years & some, people the wrong shape, may have asked for them to hold up the kilt & over the years it has become standard.

[cavscout]

I use the loops just to prevent someone from coming up to tell me I missed a belt loop :mrgreen:

[Wulfestieg]

I always wear a belt with my kilts. Like Barb said, I think it just looks better that way. I also use the loops on my SWKs, but they don't actually do anything. My belt goes through, but the belt itself isn't high enough on the kilt that the loops are bearing any of the weight.

[jjoseph]

I'm with the group that finds wearing a belt through the loops is more comfortable because it prevents the kilt from drooping in the back.....
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I like to wear a belt if I'm going out in a kilt because I think it completes the outfit's look. The exception being with a waistcoat, then it is too much.

Tom, both you and Hamish recommend against going belted with a waistcoat. Why is that? I understand that formal wear forgoes a belt when wearing a cumberbund, but that's trousers. What's the thinking on the necessity of going sans belt with a simple vest? Matt N. may be able to shed light on this as well. If memory serves, I think he wore a tartan vest in his wedding pics.

(BTW, I agree about the loops unless you have the really large loops for a 3" belt and put a small belt thru them. Then it's what Barb said about the belt riding up and pulling on the back line of the kilt.)

[Barb T]

I find that I sometimes have a problem with the belt slipping up above the top of the kilt in the back when I sit, particularly sitting on a car seat which slants lower in the back than the front. I usually have to reposition the belt after getting out of the car.

True, but think how hard the belt would be pulling on the loops while you're sitting - all that tugging is what distorts the kilt.

because it prevents the kilt from drooping in the back

Hmmmm - a kilt that is properly made (which not all are) and that is buckled tightly can't droop in the back. So, maybe you need to move your buckles so that the kilt can be buckled tighter. If that's not the problem, the kiltmaker likely continued to taper the kilt from the center of the kilt buckle (the waistline) to the top, rather than flaring the kilt a bit above the center waist. If the kilt is indeed smaller around at the top band than it is at the waist (center of buckle), the kilt was not properly made and will sag every time you wear it, because the smallest dimension of the kilt will always slide to your waist. A properly made kilt should flare a little so that the top of the rise is actually a bit bigger around than the waist measurement so that the kilt can be buckled snug at the waist and stay put there.

Barb

[davedove]

Tom, both you and Hamish recommend against going belted with a waistcoat. Why is that? I understand that formal wear forgoes a belt when wearing a cumberbund, but that's trousers. What's the thinking on the necessity of going sans belt with a simple vest? Matt N. may be able to shed light on this as well. If memory serves, I think he wore a tartan vest in his wedding pics.

Someone else can probably answer more definitively, but with the size of most kilt belt buckles the waistcoat wouldn't lay right. However, on many commercial sites I have seen the two worn together.

[Schultz]

Wearing a belt with a waistcoat is "okay" as long as the belt doesn't show underneath the waistcoat. It just doesn't look right if it's showing, at least to those who enjoy/don't know anything but the conventions of Victorian fashion, where many of the "rules" governing so called good fashion taste developed.

If your waistcoat is a bit long in the tooth, you can get away with wearing a "normal" belt (with tooth-and-buckle closure), as the fastening device will most likely not create a "bump" that you'd get with a regular kilt belt.

[HeathBar]

Tom, both you and Hamish recommend against going belted with a waistcoat. Why is that? I understand that formal wear forgoes a belt when wearing a cumberbund, but that's trousers. What's the thinking on the necessity of going sans belt with a simple vest? Matt N. may be able to shed light on this as well. If memory serves, I think he wore a tartan vest in his wedding pics.

I think I have heard/read Hamish say before that because the belt is more for decoration than actually holding up a traditional kilt(properly fitted), the waistcoat/vest will cover it up, so its not needed. And yes it might cause a bulge.

However, if you are wearnig a casual waistcoat/vest unbuttoned, then you would wear a belt.

If the picture of Matt you are refering to is the one on his website, www.albanoch.org , you don't see a belt in that picture.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Here is the picture in question:


It's actually not from our wedding (the bride wore white!) but from my wife's brother's wedding. She was in the wedding party.

In any case, I never wear a belt with a vest (waistcoat) for the simple reason that Heath said, the bottom of the vest would come down over the top of the belt and just look wrong. There is really no need to wear a belt with a properly fitted kilt, anyway. So why wear one that will be hidden?

The one time I can remember wearing a belt with a vest was with the vest worn open, so in that case the above rule of thumb did not necessarily apply.

Aye,
Matt