Aye, Colin, but what aboot white hose? Blame them on the hire shops or blame them on the media, but they came from somewhere- and not from white sheep, which have been around a lot longer than 1745. One reason the kilt was such a natural for hire shops is that they were already renting tuxedoes- another garment most men wear, but infrequently. When one stylistic decision is repeated across an entire retail empire, its effects can be considerable.

I believe there are factors which have not yet been mentioned, both stabilising and changing- Although individual kilt wearers might be isolated, we ought to be able to account for the influence of a relatively small number of tailors and highland outfitters. It might be that gentlemen from Inverness would order their kit from one maker while those in Fort William would order theirs from another, but the number of suppliers - and their employees- would directly affect the fluidity of THCD styles.

While you cite Brigadoon as a likely negative influence, I think you might consider its "ambassadorial" reach. Granted, among the strictly faithful, Brigadoonery became a bash-worthy bogey, but, besides that, Brigadoon brought visions of the highlands ( wrong, cringeworthy, or otherwise) to the attention of millions. You mention generations. I was about to argue that a generation is traditionally 25 years when I checked out the release of two film versions of The Great Gatsby- once in 1974 and then 29 years later in 2013.

I suspect cringeing goes on less than we might imagine. The person being satirized may not necessarily recognize himself in the fun-house mirror, despite the laughs of his wife, or nephew or neighbor. Some academic with plenty of data could compare the cycles of popularity of, say "gangster" suits with the release dates of big hit gangster movies. Look at long hair, or short hair, for that matter, and how its popularity spreads through the media. As they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity, and I think that holds for Harry Lauder, Bing Crosby, even Rob Lowe.

While you are wandering around in all of that data, why not bring this thing full circle a little and see how the kilted diaspora have affected THCD? Does someone know when most North American St Andrew's Societies were founded? Can we chart sales trends for kilts in North America? Or TO North America? Whether the numbers drive the change or simply reflect it, I suspect there is information to be derived from the growth of sales- if indeed there has been a growth.

I offer none of this as criticism, but only as a way to help you avoid doing your real work.