how do you deal with your shirts "muffin topping"?

[SimplyStuart]

My shirts seem to ride up and then flip out of my kilt over time and I was wondering if anyone has any solutions to this apart from tucking it back it all day?

Example: https://imgur.com/a/zgFDp73

[revdpatience]

Truthfully, I just wear my kilt up at the traditional height -- the top edge a little higher than my belly button.

Keeps shirts tucked in very tight.

If I wore my kilt at the waist like pants, my muffin top would be on full display. Not edifying.

IMG_8656.jpg

[SimplyStuart]

Truthfully, I just wear my kilt up at the traditional height -- the top edge a little higher than my belly button

IMG_8656.jpg

The pics I linked are with me wearing it at belly button height, but I will try it a little higher maybe

[MikeC]

Eh, who tucks.

IMG_1370.2.jpg

Kilt worn at belly button height.

[Father Bill]

If you're wearing a proper business or dress shirt, it will have a long tail. In the privacy of the washroom, reach up under your kilt and pull the shirt tail down all the way. If the kilt is properly fitted, it will stay that way for hours.

[KMCMICHAEL]

Shirts with excessively large armholes do not stay tucked in as well.

[Katia]

If I wore my kilt at the waist like pants, my muffin top would be on full display. Not edifying.

It's not an issue of the wearer having a muffin top, merely of the shirt pulling out enough to give a souffle type of effect. I get this often-- mind you, not with the kilt*-- but with normal pants/trousers. I always thought it was because of the problem of most women's shirts not actually being made long enough to tuck in (on top of me being long-waisted so I really haven't a prayer) and that I would fare better with a properly long shirt, but perhaps it it just something that happens to certain people based on how they're shaped or how shirts are shaped?

Especially with a dress shirt, because the fabric is more slippery; I don't have the issue so much with something like a polo shirt made of textured pique fabric.

OP, I have seen rubber-type belts that go under your waistband/over the shirt (with the idea being that it creates friction to not let anything move so easily). Maybe try one of those? Usually I see them sold in the Galls catalog and others catering to law enforcement (as an alternative to garters), and I imagine perhaps military as well, and anyone else who needs to make sure a tucked shirt stays extra-shipshape. To that end, it also may be a question to ask any military friends as they've surely dealt with it or know someone who has. (Another option from Galls.)

Eh, who tucks.

Much truth-- I refuse to tuck my shirt into my kilt. If I did, my torso would look about six inches long; it doesn't do me any favors to cut me off well above where my torso actually ends (it seems to be an effect that is more pronounced on women than men, for some reason. I've seen men who can look okay with a shirt tucked into something as high as a kilt; I've seen few women who don't look short and cut-off. I don't know if perhaps it's the female shape-- though it seems to also happen on straight-shaped women-- or if a woman's natural waist is higher than a man's {mine is at least an inch *above* my bellybutton, pretty much at the bottom of my ribcage}, or what).

[Bad Monkey]

a few thoughts:

First of all, a properly tailored shirt won't 'pull' nearly as much as the voluminous shirts sold only by neck and arm measures. Those things have to fit EVERYONE with the same neck circumference and arm length. So if you're not quite so prosperous as the next guy you're probably swimming in the thing. With decent shirts in the 60+ buck range you might as well have it altered to fit as best it can. I'm at the point where I'll pony up the 75$ to have the Vietnamese tailor over in Pioneer Square make one from my measurements if I want a really nice shirt. It's actually cheaper to have him make them bespoke than to buy a good shirt from Nordstrom (rack) and have it altered.


We tend to look at our clothes with one set of eyes. By which I mean that we look at ourselves wearing a kilt and mentally compare what we think we look like to the image we have of ourselves wearing hip hugging dungarees. Of course we think we look very short-waisted when we wear a kilt; the kilt is some 4 inches above where jeans ride. No big deal, that's how iconically constructed kilts are traditionally worn (like that, Steve? I dig the distinction your nomenclature provides). It does look different to our eyes when we leave the jeans calibration up front, but our bodies don't change shape. It's like the old joke "does this outfit make my butt look big?..." Go ahead and tuck that tailored shirt tail in, you'll look good. Besides, no one looks good with their shirt tail hanging out from under their tweed.

[Me cousin Jack]

There’s and old trick, try tucking your shirt inside your underwear...oh wait, never mind.

[Tobus]

If you're wearing a proper business or dress shirt, it will have a long tail. In the privacy of the washroom, reach up under your kilt and pull the shirt tail down all the way. If the kilt is properly fitted, it will stay that way for hours.

That's what I do. When I first strap on my kilt over my shirt, I do the "reach under" technique to pull and straighten my shirt how I want it. And periodically throughout the day, if I have the chance to get a few moments of privacy, I do the same to readjust.

I do agree that wearing a well-fitted shirt helps tremendously, as does wearing the kilt at the natural waist. Also, it helps to never raise your arms.