There was a time,not too long ago, when any self respecting kilted gentleman would not leave the house to visit a gathering or games without a day/lairds plaid. The were mainly made of kilt tartan cloth and were about 5 to 6ft long by about 50 inches wide and were folded in such a way as to hang equidistant,front and back, over your shoulder with no fixing.I might add that the tartan of the kilt was unlikely to match the plaid! I never mastered the art of keeping the wretched thing on my shoulder and have not carried one for many years now and it is rarely seen these days. As a method of keeping warm and reasonably dry it was quite effective,but with the advent of gortex and the like, there are much better options about.