Different people do it differently. Sometimes when people are sending me their measurements for a kilt, they are giving me the measurement from the top of their hipbone to where they want their kilt to fall, so I will need to add a 2" rise to this. Other times, they are giving me the measurement from above their naval, where the top of their kilt will be, to where they want their kilt to fall, with a 2" rise already included.

I guess it depends on where they learned to take measurements from. But I don't want to accadentally make a kilt too long or too short, so I always ask if this is a "finished kilt length" or "total kilt length" to determine if I need to add the rise or not.

All the kilts that I have ever seen listed second-hand (in other words, not being made for the customer) have been listed with a total kilt length. But if you want to make sure that people aren't getting confused, you can always say something like "total length = 23"."

Aye,
Matt