Shirt tucked in or out?

[Tobus]

I have a Utilikilt, and I always tuck my shirt in when wearing it. Not out of any sense of tradition or decorum, but just because the entire visual aesthetic is thrown off with a shirt hanging down. Proportions matter to me when it comes to kilts of any type, and loose shirt tails mess with my sense of proportion.

Plus, to be honest, I want that layer of fabric between my skin and the canvas.

[FossilHunter]

I have a Utilikilt, and I always tuck my shirt in when wearing it. Not out of any sense of tradition or decorum, but just because the entire visual aesthetic is thrown off with a shirt hanging down. Proportions matter to me when it comes to kilts of any type, and loose shirt tails mess with my sense of proportion.

Plus, to be honest, I want that layer of fabric between my skin and the canvas.

I agree. I do not wear a utilikilt but I think that aesthetically they look better tucked regardless of shirt style. I think it has something to due with them being open at the bottom.

Untucked you kind of have this:

O
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And tucked just looks sleeker to my eye:

O
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[tripleblessed]

Warning: personal opinion follows close on. Mine, by the way. Never untucked. Never. Ever. If I run out the door in the middle of the night
to break up a dog fight, my shirt is tucked by the time I get there. Go out to get the paper off the lawn, tucked. Check the mailbox, tucked.
Which is why I would never buy a guayabera. But that's just me. Or maybe it's just my long gone parents still offering good advice in my head.

[Tobus]

Yes, FossilHunter, it may have to do with the inverted triangle shapes like you described since the kilt is open at the bottom. But it also has to do with proportions of the visual lengths of each segment and where the separation between the two is placed. With a tucked shirt, it seems to let the chest be emphasized, tapering in to the waist where the kilt starts (for those with an ideal body shape), then flaring back out a little as it goes down. The separator is well-placed. But with an untucked loose shirt, it just becomes like a hanging sack overlapping another hanging sack. There's no clean separator between them, and the shirt takes up more than its fair share of the space.

Strangely enough, the last few years I have gravitated towards wearing untucked shirts in the summer when I'm wearing shorts. I consider it a function of decreasing tolerance for the Texas heat, and I'm starting to heed the advice of experts who recommend loose-fitting light clothing to avoid heat stroke. A loose linen button-up shirt, untucked, is a great relief in the heat. But I don't have any problem with the visual aesthetic when paired with shorts. If I did it over a kilt, though, it would just look all kinds of wrong to my eye. I can't really explain why.

[6cuda6]

Although im a total newby at this i'm getting the visual....something tells me i need to trim my waistline to make this all look "proper".....lol.

[Liam]

Although im a total newby at this i'm getting the visual....something tells me i need to trim my waistline to make this all look "proper".....lol.

I resemble that remark! 😉😉

[Twrecks911]

I almost never tuck a shirt in when I wear pants, unless it is a dressier shirt, slacks and tie. When I am in a kilt though, I always tuck my shirt in, utility kilt or otherwise. I just think it looks better. You get to show off your kilt belt and buckle, which I always wear with a kilt, and Spartan if you have one. For me, it just doesn't look good with an untucked shirt. I do think some people get way to hung up about what may be right or wrong with a kilt, after all, the whole idea of a kilt is freedom.

[Fedgunner]

Srangely enough, the last few years I have gravitated towards wearing untucked shirts in the summer when I'm wearing shorts. I consider it a function of decreasing tolerance for the Texas heat, and I'm starting to heed the advice of experts who recommend loose-fitting light clothing to avoid heat stroke. A loose linen button-up shirt, untucked, is a great relief in the heat. But I don't have any problem with the visual aesthetic when paired with shorts. If I did it over a kilt, though, it would just look all kinds of wrong to my eye. I can't really explain why.

If I am wearing shorts, my "rules" are reversed. I never tuck in a shirt when wearing shorts.