Flat Caps. No no and thrice no! Suitable hats when wearing your kilt. Discuss

**ForresterModern** · 30th January 09, 12:46 PM

Regardless of where you live, if you choose to wear a kilt, which is part of Highland dress, then you should at least be respectful of its conventions -- being an American is not an excuse for being disrespectful*, regardless of how many of our countrymen do it overseas or at home.

Regards,

Todd

*my point being that somehow being an American allows you to do anything you want "just because" you are an American.
__________________

Please go back and re-read my post, or for that matter, the one I just posted a few minutes ago. Nowhere did I say wearing flat caps is "disrespectful"; my comments were directed more that those who somehow think being American is a "get-out-of-goal-free" card" for anything.

Again, I care not a fig if someone wears one or not. I just get tired of the whole "I'm an American, I can do what I want to" line. Apologies if I offended you.

And for the record, I have a baseball cap I wear with my kilt in very casual settings -- the cap in question comes from the Iowa Scottish Pipe band.

T.

No offense taken, and hopefully none taken on your end.

The right to "do what you want to" (your words) is a nearly universal one in the free world, as long as it is within the written laws of the land. Convention or no, people here, there, everywhere will do what they will as long as it is legal and does not infringe on the rights of others, and there is nothing uniquely "American" about that trait. Being American is simply that--being what and who you want. Hey, aside from the Native Americans (who I hold with the utmost respect and reverence), all the rest of us here "on the continent" are transplants to some degree from somewhere else at some time in our family past. So being American is partly being Scottish, partly being German, partly being English, partly being native american Cherokee, and whatever other nationalities are present in our (my) heritage. So the scots part of me may be to blame for some of that "typical American" behavior so often spoken about in other countries. How is that for a turnaround?

**Paul Henry** · 30th January 09, 12:47 PM

I suppose for many of the us the kilt is not primarily an historic garment, that has a fixed look, and some of us of don't see the kilt as a protected species. Over the last few hundred years the style and accoutrements of highland wear has changed.
Todd is happiest wearing his kilt in a way that many of us would think as very traditional,perhaps what would be though of in a relatively formal Victorian style. That is fine for him, just as others will wear flat caps with their kilts.

Neither view is necessarily right or wrong , and I really wish that we wouldn't think that there are definite right and definite wrongs. It's much better to think of guidelines or conventions.

I don't agree that flat hat can never be worn with kilt, some of the photos on the thread seem fine, some don't. but it's the choice of the wearer.I've got a flat hat, but it's ages since I put it on, I doubt if I'd wear it with a kilt, but I wouldn't rule it out either.
I think we have to get over the belief, that the way we think that Scotsmen wear the kilt is the only one, as has oft been said on this board, most Scots wear a kilt only for high days, and few of them would have more than one of two. So already we wear kilts differently, so lets work on enjoying wearing the kilt with whatever accessories we choose, and celebrate our kilt wearing together rather than picking on each other dress code, just a thought...

**macwilkin** · 30th January 09, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by paulhenry

I suppose for many of the us the kilt is not primarily an historic garment, that has a fixed look, and some of us of don't see the kilt as a protected species. Over the last few hundred years the style and accoutrements of highland wear has changed.
Todd is happiest wearing his kilt in a way that many of us would think as very traditional,perhaps what would be though of in a relatively formal Victorian style. That is fine for him, just as others will wear flat caps with their kilts.

Neither view is necessarily right or wrong , and I really wish that we wouldn't think that there are definite right and definite wrongs. It's much better to think of guidelines or conventions.

I don't agree that flat hat can never be worn with kilt, some of the photos on the thread seem fine, some don't. but it's the choice of the wearer.I've got a flat hat, but it's ages since I put it on, I doubt if I'd wear it with a kilt, but I wouldn't rule it out either.
I think we have to get over the belief, that the way we think that Scotsmen wear the kilt is the only one, as has oft been said on this board, most Scots wear a kilt only for high days, and few of them would have more than one of two. So already we wear kilts differently, so lets work on enjoying wearing the kilt with whatever accessories we choose, and celebrate our kilt wearing together rather than picking on each other dress code, just a thought...

Spot on, Paul.

I agree with you 99%, except that I try for a 1940's-60's look myself.

Todd

**Panache** · 30th January 09, 01:01 PM

I do think it is interesting get a clarification on why to our friends on the other side of the pond the flat cap doesn't work with a kilt.

They see it in a historical /sociological context where on our side of pond we view it solely on an aesthetic one.

I think that on an aesthetic level they do work.

Though if we are going to wear them we should tuck away in minds that this is not traditional.

This doesn't mean they don't work and it doesn't mean we can't enjoy them.

Cheers

Jamie

**Jock Scot** · 30th January 09, 01:09 PM

Sorry to disagree with you Jamie, but to my eyes, aesthetically, flat caps look downright awful, when worn with the kilt! Others, obviously think differently!

**ForresterModern** · 30th January 09, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

Sorry to disagree with you Jamie, but to my eyes, aesthetically, flat caps look downright awful! Others, obviously think differently!

Jock

You've hit on the key issue here-----style and taste, personal preference. Not convention, not history, not nationalism. Flat caps are kinda like broccoli. Some folks like them and others hate them, then others wouldn't give a whip. It is that way with pretty much anything with a style--clothes, cars, TV shows and movies, on and on and on....

But you have to admit, there must be an awful lot of folks who do like those flat caps, with or without kilts, as it seems that the retailers continue to sell them a quite a clip.

j

**Jock Scot** · 30th January 09, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by ForresterModern

Jock

You've hit on the key issue here-----style and taste, personal preference. Not convention, not history, not nationalism. Flat caps are kinda like broccoli. Some folks like them and others hate them, then others wouldn't give a whip. It is that way with pretty much anything with a style--clothes, cars, TV shows and movies, on and on and on....

But you have to admit, there must be an awful lot of folks who do like those flat caps, with or without kilts, as it seems that the retailers continue to sell them a quite a clip.

j

You are of course quite correct. I have several tweed caps, my wife accuses me of collecting them, and I wold not be without them, apart from when I am wearing the kilt! My tailor can almost bank on a sale of a cap when I visit his shop.

**RockyR** · 30th January 09, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by ForresterModern

Jock

You've hit on the key issue here-----style and taste, personal preference. Not convention, not history, not nationalism. Flat caps are kinda like broccoli. Some folks like them and others hate them, then others wouldn't give a whip. It is that way with pretty much anything with a style--clothes, cars, TV shows and movies, on and on and on....

But you have to admit, there must be an awful lot of folks who do like those flat caps, with or without kilts, as it seems that the retailers continue to sell them a quite a clip.

j

I agree... it's a matter of style and taste.

If you read the book 'so you want to wear the kilt' (considered a sort of bible to many), it suggests that a kilt should be worn at LOWEST an inch above the kneecap (if memory serves). If people on this side of the pond would do that as standard, we'd all be laughed at for wearing mini kilts.

I've had people who were IN the Sutherland Highlanders pipe band and the Canadian military tell me that my kilt is too short b/c when I kneel, it is an inch off the ground (hits the top of my knee). According to what he was told in the service, the kilt should be JUST scraping the ground when worn.

Who is correct?

Flat caps worn with can be seen in the same way. Who is correct?

The only thing that could bother me is when people wear a tartan flat cap and a DIFFERENT tartan kilt. I hate mixing tartans, even though it 'historically done'.