The answer is going to depend upon the church, the congregation, and the geographic location. I dress pretty much as David says he does -- jacket & tie, with slacks, most every Sunday. If it is *really hot* I may forgo the jacket, but I never forgo the tie.

A few men in my church dress similar to this, but most dress more casual. I wish more people would dress up, and the only way I know to encourage that is to dress nice myself, and so I do.

On the other hand, when I attend service on our college campus, it's another matter. Most of the male students dress very casually. While a small handful make the effort to dress nice, with slacks and a tucked in shirt (rarely ever a tie), most wear jeans, shorts, flip-flops, tennis shoes, t-shirts, etc. So I tone down my dress a bit. I still wear slacks, and either a dress shirt sans tie, or a polo shirt. In other words, I try to dress nicer than the average college male, but not so nice that I look like I'm trying to show them up. (By the way, the male professors who attend typically dress as casually as the students).

If I were wearing Highland attire to regular Sunday service, I'd wear the kilt, solid hose, plain black or brown leather shoes (I'd probably leave the sgian dubh at home), a plain black or brown leather day sporran), a dress shirt and tie, and a day jacket, either tweed or some other lighter weight material, but not a formal jacket (black with silver buttons). Possibly a waistcoat if I so desired.

Now, if it were a special day, like Chirstmas Midnight Mass, or the Easter Vigil, something like that, I'd dress up a bit more. I might wear that dress jacket, or a fur sporran, and perhaps even diced or argyle hose if the mood struck.

Normally, the only time I wear a kilt to a church service would be if it were a special occasion. Here's what I wore last Easter, when a couple of my students were being baptized and confirmed during the liturgy.


A few times recently I have had to attend funerals of friends of mine who were active in the Scottish heritage community, and I (and many others) wore a kilt in their honor. I didn't take any photos, but dressed very similar to this.