Does a Kilt Need a Belt?

[OC Richard]

I always wear a belt with my kilt. Growing up we were expected, no matter where we were going, to have shirts tucked in, hair combed and a belt on. It may just be a small town Texas thing but it has carried over to whatever I may be wearing, including my kilt.

Posts like these reinforce my long-held notion that Americans like wearing belts with their kilts due to a false analogy with pants.

Pants are designed to be held up by a belt. Kilts, traditionally, have not been. The adding of belt loops to kilts is a recent thing (Army kilts have never had them) and appears to have been largely driven by the demands of American customers, who liken kilts to pants.

In old Highland Dress catalogues no such thing as a 'kilt belt' is mentioned or offered. What they do offer is a 'dirk belt' the purpose of which is to support a dirk.