Sometimes I have to be careful that I don't give the wrong impression about wearing the kilt. When I, and others, insist upon their being no "rules" for wearing the kilt, we certainly don't mean to completely throw fashion sense out the window.

It's not meant at all to mean that you can show up at the next Tartan Ball and Gala in your kilt with Teva sandals and a tie-dyed t-shirt!

There are rules of fashion, unwritten and changing as they are, and this will always be so as long as we live in a society with other human beings that wear clothes. When you go into a court room before a judge (lawyer or otherwise) you wear a jacket and tie. When you are out mowing the lawn you wear old jeans and a t-shirt. Your job, your church, and even your leisure activities all have a style of clothing that is appropriate to them, and you dress accordingly.

It goes without saying that the same applies to the kilt. Of course the kilt really is a uniform for some groups of people. If you are a member of a regiment, a pipe band, a dance group, or certain Scottish-interest societies, then you will have a certain dress code that you are expected to adhere to.

However, the impression has somehow gotten into the mainstream (less so today than a generation ago) that these groups set the standard for how the kilt had to be worn. That the military, and the pipe bands, set the tradition for how we all must wear the kilt. And for a while it seems like they did!

But I suggest we look back to an older tradition, back to before the kilt became something "ceremonial" and was worn on a more regular, if not daily basis, by the Highland people. Think of it as an article of clothing, and not as a costume or uniform. This does not mean that no rules apply and you can wear anything with the kilt willy-nilly. No, the rules of fashion still apply, but this is not the same as having a dress code.

I once heard a kilt wearer get dressed down at a Highland Games by someone who noticed that the fold-over on his hose was less than the required four-finger widths (or whatever he thought it was supposed to be). I thought to myself, "When did that poor man sign up to join your unit, bub?"

So I agree with you wholeheartedly James -- dress appropriately to the occasion!
Matt