Not putting it on properly

[David]

I hope this is posted in the right place, and that I don't upset anyone.

I know we are not the kilt police here on Xmarks but I’m pretty sure the vast majority of us could agree on a few basics when it comes to putting it on properly:

• The top of the kilt is worn roughly mid-way between the hip bone and bottom of you rib cage,
• The bottom of your kilt finishes about the top of your knee.
• The sporran is worn about a hands breadth below the top of the kilt.
• The hose (if they are not scrunched down) are worn so that the top of them are a wee bit below the bottom of the knee – I was taught it was the width of the index and forefinger below the bottom of the knee cap.
• The flashes are worn between 2 o’clock and 3 o’clock (12 o’clock being the front of the shin) and they show about an inch below the bottom edge of the turned over hose.
• If you are wearing ghillie brogues, you wrap the laces a couple of times round the ankle and tie a bow.

All simple and straightforward stuff, and it looks good, it looks right.

But over the past couple of years I have noticed (at formal events) a change in how the kilt is worn and accessorized. I don’t see there is anything wrong with this on an individual basis, each to their own and all that. If you want to wear a ruche tie fine, if you are wearing your kilt below the knee fine, just don’t do both of them.

Recently I was at a wedding and it is accurate to say that the number of us wearing a kilt that met what I would consider the basics was about 6 or 7 out of the 40 or so kilt wearers. I wish I could say that the other 90ish percent had made changes that improved on the basics of wearing a kilt, but I can’t. Collectively (and individually) it just looked bad. I seriously don’t think the guys wearing the kilts were any the wiser. I believe it’s down to how they have been shown either directly by the companies hiring /selling them their kilts (almost all were wearing hire kilts) or via other “influencers”; wedding planners, the bride, the wife, the Mother-in-Law, etc.

In my opinion our national dress is being devalued and hijacked by the wedding industry. I say that because it’s the only common denominator I can see. To me its reaching the point of being a parody.

The 90% had at least two of the following going on:

1. Kilt hem covering the knee, even in some cases when the waist was right
2. Kilt waist worn on the hips exposing the shirt between it and the waistcoat, again, some guys were still showing some knee
3. Kilt pin hanging off the bottom corner of the apron. In one case this only accentuated the fact that hem of the over apron was running out of line with the under apron so that at the point where the hem met the fringed edge, the corner was about an inch and a half below the under apron. This was not an isolated instance, I have seen it before.
4. Flashes worn at about 4 o’clock
5. Showing (much) more than 2 inches of flashes
6. Wearing a ruche tie (a personal dislike of the first order)
7. Wearing flashes that match the ruche tie
8. Ghillie brogue laces wound up to mid-shin
9. Ghillie brogue laces wound up the leg and tied off under the turnover of the hose, tassels showing or covered (this was a first for me)
10. As 9) but laces tied off on top of hose turnover
11. Laces wound up the leg as in 9) or 10) and wound over or under flashes
12. Low slung sporrans. In one extreme case the top of the sporran was a good 8 inches to 10 inches below the bottom of the waistcoat. The guy must have had to bend over to reach the change at the bottom of his sporran