Proper way to wear a kilt with a tie?

[csbdr]

I don't have a pic, but I find the Target waistcoat length to be just fine.

[Streetcar]

I just want to throw the caution out there that I'd avoid a sport coat unless it's been cut for a kilt.

[Rex_Tremende]

There was also this recent survey and discussion on the length of a tie with kilt.

Regards,
Rex.

[piperdbh]

Regarding the tie itself, I'd say pick a solid-color tie the same color as one of the narrowest stripes in the tartan. (I like contrast.) If you do that, it won't matter so much if the tie and stripe wind up being two different shades of the same color.

You mention that you wear a tie to the office once a week already. What if you debut the kilt (with tie and maybe the jacket) on one of the casual, non-tie days, just to "test the waters" and see what kind of response you get?

I hope it works out for you. I'd imagine that it will.

[BagpiperDon]

All things depending, I would wonder if you'd have to pose this to any boss at all. I worked for a company in the past where the union partly negotiated the dress-code for office employees -- this was reviewed with me during my orientation... didn't say anything about a kilt, so I asked, and the manager/s said the dress code didn't say anything against it, technically I could go for it.

Consider this...
Are there other people who wear heritage clothing to work, religious ethnicity clothing ... if you have Scots heritage, how is it any different, and therefore why should you have to ask or prove anything. I think the more important question/s should be asked in a setting like this forum -- what would be the correct combination of kilt-clothing to meet office standard.

[Tobus]

There was also this recent survey and discussion on the length of a tie with kilt.

Regards,
Rex.

Fantastic! That thread helped a lot.

Consider this...
Are there other people who wear heritage clothing to work, religious ethnicity clothing ... if you have Scots heritage, how is it any different, and therefore why should you have to ask or prove anything. I think the more important question/s should be asked in a setting like this forum -- what would be the correct combination of kilt-clothing to meet office standard.

I work for a construction company. In Texas. So it's a bit of a "good ol' boy's club". We don't have much in the way of ethnic diversity; at least, not amongst the office staff. The field hands are another matter entirely. So the usual dress in the office is pretty bland. The only "ethnic" attire that people wear is cowboy boots.

I've been casually mentioning the kilt to some others in the office to gauge response, and so far it's been positive. But being a manager of a department, I have to be real careful to maintain professionalism. It's not so much a matter of "can I get away with it without being fired?" I'm not worried about that at all. It's mainly that I don't want it to be a career damaging thing, where my boss would hesitate to promote me even further for fear that I'm "weird" or some such bias. Nor would I want the employees who report to me to be snickering behind my back. And worst of all, our job superintendents who come into the office from construction jobsites would likely give me a lot of ribbing about it. At first, anyway.

So I really have to build up to it, I think. Let everyone see pictures of me and generally wrap their mind around it before showing up to work in a kilt.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I don't want it to be a career damaging thing, where my boss would hesitate to promote me even further for fear that I'm "weird" or some such bias. Nor would I want the employees who report to me to be snickering behind my back. And worst of all, our job superintendents who come into the office from construction jobsites would likely give me a lot of ribbing about it.

Since all three of the scenarios you've outlined would definitely have a negative impact on your career-- and your chance for advancement within the company you work for-- I'd advise against wearing the kilt to work unless you want to run the risk of becoming some sort of an office caricature with the result that you would be perceived, by some, as an easy target for ridicule making you less of a threat to their career prospects.

[fluter]

Future earnings/advancement probably trumps. Sigh. Maybe you could test the waters on a special occasion sometime, like St. Andrew's Day.

The fun part is that those good ol' boys, almost to a man, probably have Scots or Scots-Irish heritage. If you could take the ribbing, and give as good as you got, you'd probably have a lot of fun with them.

[Tobus]

The other day I was showing kilt pictures to someone on my computer when one of the field superintendents walked into my office. Surprisingly, he thought it was cool. Apparently he visited Seattle a couple of years ago and claimed that "everybody" there was wearing a kilt. He even tried on a utilikilt at their store there but didn't buy one because his daughter laughed at him in it. But still, he thought they were cool. So that's a promising sign.

[sfb]

Future earnings/advancement probably trumps. Sigh. Maybe you could test the waters on a special occasion sometime, like St. Andrew's Day.

The fun part is that those good ol' boys, almost to a man, probably have Scots or Scots-Irish heritage. If you could take the ribbing, and give as good as you got, you'd probably have a lot of fun with them.

That strikes me as a rather good idea, given your understandable concerns. Folk are probably more likely to accept it if it's a special occasion thing? And if you do St Andrew's Day, Burns night, your birthday, the work Christmas party (or the equivalent) then if people view it as your "especially smart" workwear, it'd maybe be less likely that anyone would be snickering?

Of course if that works out, then you can expand it to other notable Scottish dates like the opening of the Parliament at Holyrood; Billy Connolly's birthday and the Battle of Bannockburn, and you'll end up wearing your kilt to work at least once a month.

Seriously though - unless and until you feel confident and comfortable about doing it, I'd err on the side of the workwear status quo.