Dress Codes

[CMcG]

If a region were to declare top hats part of their national dress would everyone else be suddenly improper to wear one at an event? I don't think so. That Scotland has passed a motion declaring the kilt its national dress has no bearing on me nor my heritage and when given the opportunity to dress culturally (including an invitation to "National Dress") I am within my purview to wear the kilt.

They have never done that, have they? I thought this came up a while back, and I was under that same mistaken impression. I was told that there is no official statement from government or any other authoritative body which declares the kilt as Scotland's national dress. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong again...

This again takes us back to the question of "what is national dress"? Who makes it such?

That is an interesting question! Does the kilt have official government recognition as the national dress of Scotland?

For all the insistence in this thread on privileging the legal citizenship status for wearers of kilts as national attire, it seems there must be a law about it?!? If it is just custom, then I can imagine that a native Gaelic speaker in Nova Scotia might also make some pretty strong claims to the kilt as their national attire because of longstanding traditions.

Other Canadians (like Xman or I) think of the kilt more as the national attire of their ancestors, despite the confusion that might create for others. There are some official government statements on the subject though.


The aforementioned Multiculturalism Act:
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-18.7/page-1.html

Here is one about dress codes, with a section for national attire at the bottom:
http://pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/prtcl/vest-eng.cfm

And a statement on when it is appropriate to wear the Maple Leaf tartan that mentions kilts:
http://pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/o6-eng.cfm#q2