Dress codes and changing trends

[Jock Scot]

I think we can all agree that modern dress is far more casual than it was even 40 years ago and who knows where general dress standards will go in the future? Kilt dress codes generally have moved at a much slower pace, although, mainly through ignorance, combined with a worldwide( Scotland to) slide towards casual dress, does cause genuine misunderstandings with what is required for traditional kilt attire.

No one, not one of us here, are immune from these cultural, traditional, national, international, climate, modern dress conventions, fashion cross currents and this thread alone never mind the umpteen thousand other threads here that have been posted about all this confirm it.

So I(and others) have taken the view that for those that want to, can be armed with the more traditional point of view on kilt attire so that when and if, the occasion should arise, out of the blue perhaps, then those that wish to can at least be armed with the right information to venture forth with their attire that will do them and the kilt justice whilst not looking like a clown. I am not aware of anyone on this website has ever said you cant wear this or that kilt attire however you want. What has been said regularly, is; "if you want to wear the kilt properly in the traditional manner for such and such an event then these are your best options to dress to best effect", and if that is not your choice then so be it. What is more than a little galling is when the "I will wear what I damn well like" comments get trotted out when advice has been asked for!

I think it does help if we all remember AND KEEP REMEMBERING that kilt attire came from a completely different tradition than what most of you are familier with. There is no exact comparison between kilt attire and saxon attire, matching colours is not a pre-requisit for kilt attire, there are no---and never has been----exact dress pigeon holes for kilt attire and it is here that we seem to get the most confusion with those who are not familier with kilt attire and added to this confusion, is that people fail to understand similar events(black tie for example) do not necessarilly require the same standard of dress. When personal flair(which kilt attire does encourage to some extent, even in Scotland) is added to the equation then it is so easy for the unaware to go off the rails.

This is such a useful thread. Well done.