Hot weather kilting in San Diego

[FossilHunter]

To be honest, I never understood the whole thing of wearing a kilt to church. I noticed it is a thing in the US.

So I've given this a bit of thought and decided a less flippant answer than what I had previously given would be appropriate.

Keep in mind that this is only my own thought process and I will not try to explain why anyone else wears a kilt anywhere.

I believe that I have read here in older threads by our resident Highlanders that church services are one of the few places one is still likely to encounter kilts in the Highlands even if the numbers are still low. Now I cannot find any threads via google to support this at the moment and I think it was only ever mentioned in passing. So perhaps I am mistaken but I was under the impression that kilts can sometimes be seen at funerals, weddings, and church services, depending on location and denomination (as some, like the Free Church, do not approve of kilts.

In my own case, I have adopted the kilt as a replacement for "dressier" clothing from slacks to suits, attempting to wear it and its accessories in the traditional "smart" manner. You may notice that I usually post my photos in the traditional sub forum for feedback.

I am required to wear jeans and boots for work and my normal mode of dress is very casual. I wear shorts and t shirts most of the time or camo of the Realtree variety if I am engaged in a sporting activity so my kilt is reserved for special occasions.

I have worn my kilt to live theater performances (with a jacket and tie), nicer restaurants (tie and jacket depending on weather), family get togethers if not too casual, and regularly to Sunday services. Basically anywhere I would consider it appropriate to wear something nicer than shorts.

I hope this helps.

Fun Historical Fact:
The shield symbol of the Episcopal Church in the USA has a Saltire on it because bishops could not be consecrated in England in the immediate post-revolution period and the first American bishop was consecrated in Scotland.

[Jock Scot]

I am very far from a regular church goer. Weddings and funerals are more me. However the impression I get when passing the congregation, of assorted denominations as they enter or leave the church on a Sunday, is that the kilt is rarely, very rarely seen amongst them around here and I know that more than some do wear the kilt outwith the church on occasion. Kilts at weddings are fairly common and for funerals generally less so. Would I wear the kilt to a normal church service should I need to venture to one? Probably not. I am not sure why I say that, but it just seems to me that the proper thing to do, is to wear a suit.

[Nomad]

In olden days, i.e. 1970s, when I was growing up people always wore their best clothes when going to church, hence the olden phrase "Sunday best" to describe ones attire when at its smartest. Based on this I can see why some people would wear a kilt to church, as it is probably their best/most expensive clothing.

[FossilHunter]

I am very far from a regular church goer. Weddings and funerals are more me. However the impression I get when passing the congregation, of assorted denominations as they enter or leave the church on a Sunday, is that the kilt is rarely, very rarely seen amongst them around here and I know that more than some do wear the kilt outwith the church on occasion. Kilts at weddings are fairly common and for funerals generally less so. Would I wear the kilt to a normal church service should I need to venture to one? Probably not. I am not sure why I say that, but it just seems to me that the proper thing to do, is to wear a suit.

Thank you for the insight. I don't know why I thought it was more common (not necessarily common). Maybe I saw pics of weddings and funerals and in passing my brain did some inferring.

[Jock Scot]

Thank you for the insight. I don't know why I thought it was more common (not necessarily common). Maybe I saw pics of weddings and funerals and in passing my brain did some inferring.

Please don't misunderstand me, with the occasional funeral, for a Clan Chief(the late MacLeod of MacLeod's for example) perhaps then, there may be a lot of kilts on show. How many Clan Chiefs are there? Not many. For a respected piper or a renowned soldier perhaps, then kilts might be seen in numbers, but for more normal people in my experience the kilt is rarely seen at funerals. However, I cannot say the kilt is NEVER seen at some funerals.

[tpa]

To be honest, I never understood the whole thing of wearing a kilt to church. I noticed it is a thing in the US.

It was also a thing in Scotland, at least for me, through all the years I lived there from childhood to our last home in Old Kilpatrick. I have to admit that my preferance was for wearing my kilt rather than going to church, but with a wife for an elder and kids in Sunday school, regular appearance was required.

[FossilHunter]

In olden days, i.e. 1970s, when I was growing up people always wore their best clothes when going to church, hence the olden phrase "Sunday best" to describe ones attire when at its smartest. Based on this I can see why some people would wear a kilt to church, as it is probably their best/most expensive clothing.

This is basically my situation.

The funny thing is that now people are so used to seeing me kilted that they ask about it when they see me wearing something else.

[kiltedsawyer]

This is a major peeve of mine. I've never understood the American fascination with button-down collars, or why they were invented in the first place. It's not like there's anything special about the USA that causes our collars to flap wildly about if they aren't buttoned down. And in the rare instance where it would be an issue, it's usually nothing that a starched collar with a metal collar stay wouldn't fix. If it's just a matter of wanting to keep a collar flap straight and well-positioned, collar stays do the job just fine. Button-down collars just don't make any sense to me, yet it's difficult to find collared shirts without them.

I usually pass on shirts with button-down collars. But if for some reason I do end up with one (I do have a few), I just leave the collar flaps unbuttoned when I'm not wearing a tie. They only get buttoned if my shirt front is buttoned all the way up to the neck. The reason being, as your photo shows, the buttoned collar stands up oddly when the flaps are buttoned but the shirt front is not.

I like button down collars. Not so much with a suit, but don't like the new spread collars either. Just old fashioned I guess.

[FossilHunter]

Not as hot this weekend but still a bit warm for my liking.

Blue gingham shirt this time. Kilt a touch higher and hose a touch lower (a bit of an photo angle thing that makes it less obvious but the kilt is right on top of the kneecap).

[Jock Scot]

Not as hot this weekend but still a bit warm for my liking.

Blue gingham shirt this time. Kilt a touch higher and hose a touch lower (a bit of an photo angle thing that makes it less obvious but the kilt is right on top of the kneecap).

Love the blue gingham, a very effective choice with the kilt. Yes this camera angle thing really is a nuisance, so bearing that in mind it looks to me that you could still lower the hose a tad more and still raise the kilt a bit more than a tad. Try it?