How NOT to wear a kilt

[Brian Rose]

Last year at the San Diego Games, I saw someone with his kilt backwards. I went up and quietly let him know that the pleats go in the back and he said “oh yeah!” and turned the kilt around.

Why people think they go in front (or how they can reasonably put a kilt on with pleats to the front) is beyond me.

I had the same issue yesterday at a small local Celtic Festival. I walked up and said “ I hate to be ‘that guy’ but your kilt is on backwards.” He quickly rotated it and thanked me. Said it was his first time. Then a quick lesson on how a kilt is worn higher than blue jeans.

[User]

I had the same issue yesterday at a small local Celtic Festival. I walked up and said “ I hate to be ‘that guy’ but your kilt is on backwards.” He quickly rotated it and thanked me. Said it was his first time. Then a quick lesson on how a kilt is worn higher than blue jeans.

My rule of thumb at festivals is, if it's something they can fix on the spot (backward, steeking still in, etc) let them know. Otherwise, I don't approach people just to point out flaws.

[Troglodyte]

It is surprising where these kilting errors occur.

At the Aboyne Highland Games on Deeside, Scotland, last weekend, I witnessed the correcting of a curious faux-pas.

At a trade stand, a young visitor had his kilt on sideways! That is, aprons to one aide, pleats to the other - with the left-side buckle at the front.

An ex-Jock was with me, and he lost no time in providing gentle and calm advice on how improvements could be made. In his defence, the young man said it was the first time he had worn the kilt (having only just bought it) and had fastened the buckle as he would a normal belt, going right-to-left. Position of the flat aprons and pleats had been given no thought at all, and none of those with him had noticed the twisted kilt either.

What is baffling is that Aboyne is a red-letter event and the number of kilties competing in piping and dancing, the bands and officials, and spectators who are kilted corretly and for the most part very traditionally, all provide good role models to follow for novice kilties.

It beats me how someone could get the kilt on backwards and not realise. The 'I'm new to it' excuse is reasonable enough with the finer details of Highland dress, but kilt on backwards (or sideways) seems as illogical as jeans on backwards, or a suit jacket on backwards for the same reason.

Yet we see it more often than we should...