As someone new to this community I hesitate to opine lest I appear heretic. Although I have been wearing a kilt now for over 40 years over half my adult life so I'm not some whippersnapper.

I am not much enamoured of folks whom I might style “plaid police”. I like walking in a kilt in the hills etc and therefore strict rules of etiquette what goes with what and so on are considerably less important than practicality and comfort ,particularly when footwear hosiery and what you wear above (and underneath !!) a kilt is concerned . For example the sporran is really something of an impediment and pouches attached to a belt are much more practical as indeed is a proper rucksack! I do not recall reading much about what the rules are today in the wearing of britches which can also be practical garments to walk in compared with full length trousers that get mud and wet splattered. They were “normal” a few hundred years ago . Socks are much easier to wash than trousers are to dry clean!

But for me a kilt is something I will wear when I am on my feet walking far less than at sit down affairs. I should think the ratio is something like ten to one. I will put on a kilt just to walk up into the local hills and woods and nature trails or walk to a country pub, look at the view and walk home again. I will even wear it when visiting London walking on the South Bank going to the theatre lunches with friends etc

It's not that many generations since trousers themselves were a new and rather radical invention looked down upon by the upper middle classes! (The aristos don't care what we wear for the most part) I know enough of history ( A lifetime of study) to know that what was worn during and before the 45 rebellion bears only a casual relationship to modern highland dress as it has been interpreted and reinterpreted Victorianized or whatever. But human beings always like to create rules even where they serve very little practical purpose. It is part of the fun I suppose. In its origins plaid or tartan was worn by ordinary men and women. And there was an Irish equivalent of sorts.

I take more cognizance of the many re-enactment groups in the UK who put a great deal of effort into research in putting together forms of highland dress that are simply not worn today by people such as ourselves. I do take a particular pleasure in acquiring items that have a Jacobite look and feel to them and which are perhaps more Celtic inspired than purely Scottish in appearance ( but then my antecedents are Irish not Scottish) And so what?

When it comes to military Uniforms they have changed and evolved over the centuries and will still do so. Today's “tradition “ is yesterday's radical departure from custom. I can remember it being observed by my military friends that if you saw two British Army officers wearing totally identical uniforms one of them must be an impostor the precise brown shade of the shoes for example.

So I will wear what looks good feels good suits me and earns the approbation and approval of my friends and family ( And sometimes just a little envy) I apply exactly the same approach to the wearing of a well made Savile Row two or three piece suit or an appropriate ensemble of beautifully made Italian menswear. You can be a " sharp dressed man" in a kilt right enough . A Scots friend of mine he has never seen a man who did not look good in one. He has four. He should know.