Your perfect summer kilt outfit?

[Iain Ruaidh]

I tend to wear my kilts with a button-up shirt, usually short sleeved, and an optional wool sweater. The sweater is always and only wool - I can't be doing with fake sweaters as they aren't comfortable.
Hose vary from thick kilt hose in winter, through knee high socks, both ribbed and flat knit, to minimal socks when it's warm.

I like my 4yd 13oz wool kilts for their sheer style and colours, but I wear them sparingly.

I have several 4/5yd polyviscose kilts that look great.

And I have a couple of Sportkilt Hiking Kilts with velcro fastening, and which are made of some printed microfibre material. They are very lightweight, and drip dry perfectly after you get them wet: go swimming, rinse in the shower, hang on the washing line and bingo, it's back to perfect. I don't have the optional straps or pockets on them. I think that would look a little mad on something so obviously plasticky.

It all depends on the weather, which can be any season on any day here in England.

[Pleater]

The week long folk festival I attended was blisteringly hot this year and I did not see one woollen kilt - the Kernow lads and some lasses were there in their Cornish black cotton kilts, some with a white cross, variously on the apron or across the pleats, lightweight hose or none at all, white 'pirate' shirt or black tee shirt and a broad brimmed hat.

I took several kilts but wore just one, the lightest, and took a shower wearing it to freshen it up mid way through. I was going to hang it up to dry but by the time I got back to the camper, it was barely damp, so did not bother.

Anne the Pleater

[OC Richard]

It was quite warm, verging on hot, yesterday when I left the West side of Scotland clad in the kilt, hose, etc. and wearing a tattersall patterned shirt with the sleeves rolled up. When I arrived in Inverness (East side of Scotland), some 80 miles distant, the haar (cold sea fog) had moved in and a cold Easterly breeze was blowing.

Here on our West Coast we get the first part but not the second part.

In short, we're haarless.

[TheVintageLibertine]

I currently live in Southern California, but was a lifelong San Franciscan until a few years ago. As a result, I have a few tips for wearing kilts in warmer weather.

(In Northern California, I went to the highland game at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton for years. They are held in August and it’s always blistering hot.)

I found wearing cotton instead of wool hose helps, especially in a light color.

For a shirt, I usually wear a chambray or linen button ups with the sleeves rolled up (which I always wear in Summertime anyway).

As for the kilt, a 12- to 13-ounce tartan versus a 16-ounce tartan also makes a difference, especially if you select a cloth with a smoother/softer finish as compared to rougher/fuzzier/heartier of heavyweights.

I don’t own a PV kilt, but I would guess they are not great in the heat, because synthetic cloth usually doesn’t breath as well as natural fibers, like cotton, wool, linen, etc.

[OC Richard]

I don’t own a PV kilt, but I would guess they are not great in the heat, because synthetic cloth usually doesn’t breathe as well as natural fibers, like cotton, wool, linen, etc.

As a former 35-year Disneyland (Anaheim) Cast Member I can attest to that!

Because they can be washed hundreds of times and not degrade much, most of the CM uniforms are artificial fibres.

They're horrible in our hot summers because, as you say, they don't breathe. It's like wearing a big plastic trash bag over your whole body in 100 degree heat.

So we CM's found our own solutions, like discovering that trousers issued to our department were polyester, but identical-looking trousers issued to a different department were 50% cotton. Also, we all ended up privately purchasing 100% cotton shirts, thus avoiding the nasty polyester Disney-issued shirts.

[SF Jeff]

I currently live in Southern California, but was a lifelong San Franciscan until a few years ago.

I did the opposite - grew up in SoCal (near the beach, so we escaped a lot of the inland heat) and then 18 years up north, mostly in and around SF with a 4 year stint near Tahoe. Amazing the difference between Pleasanton and Ventura. Ventura is much more Frisco-ish in its weather and Pleasanton is much more SoCal-ish.