Knee length- what is perfect?

[mookien]

I'm a mid to bottom of the knee cap kiltie. Among others, I take my cue from the photos on the web sited, MacGregor and MacDuff, as Scotweb.

Stan: Be careful judging the length of a kilt from photos. If the camera is at eye level, as is often the case, it will make the kilt appear longer than it really is.

Also, quoting from the Scotweb site itself ...

"The bottom hem of your kilt can fall anywhere from the middle of your knee cap to an inch or so above the knee. A third of the way down the knee cap is about ideal. Certainly do not cover the knee entirely. That looks a little daft."

For the reference see page 38 of the "Free Gift" entitled "Kilts and Tartans Made Easy" available on the Scotweb home page .

I'm not citing that as a definitive rule. Folks can establish their kilt hems wherever they please. I think it is designed to be a rule of thumb for the kilt novice.

John

[TheOfficialBren]

I am a top-of-the-knee sort pf chap. Bottom and below the knee looks odd to me. To each their own, though. Mid-knee doesn't look bad in my book, either, but I hate feeling fabric flip against the back of my knee. Amazingly that slight hitch higher makes a world of difference in terms of comfort.

Plus one about photographs. They can be very deceptive.

[Jock Scot]

Somewhere around the top of the knee seems to be where we in this part of Scotland try for and no lower than the centre of the knee cap seems to be where the younger generation aim for. This seems to be a normal state of affairs with youngsters, my sons used to and in the dim and distant past I used to and can well remember the somewhat cutting remarks from the elder generation of the time. So plenty of scope.

There is also a practical reason for wearing the kilt on the high side and that is that when the kilt(wool, I cannot speak of other material) is damp, wet even, as they often are in Scotland then the selvedge does not rub a sore patch on the back of the knee. It can get very uncomfortable if the kilt is worn too low.

One does need to be very careful with taking guidance from pictures, yes the camera angle is a major culprit in leading one to draw the wrong conclusion, another culprit is that often the kilt moves south over time and so it depends when the picture was taken. So for example, was it taken 10 minutes after the kilt was put on, or, four hours later when the kilt has started its journey south? Pictures can actually be unhelpful at times.

[guardsman]

Nevermind the length, what about the RUGBURN !!! Tell us more , what you going to use your kilt for ?

[cryptoman]

I usually take a towel and look, what is good for me. At 23" the hem almost touches the floor. The Elkommando kilt was at the top edge of the scala - shorter was for boys. I am 194cm tall, long legs, small torso. I guess ya see the whole knee.