Extending use of my military kilt beyond formal events

[Tobus]

Having started out with military kilts I still don't totally get why the rise is felt to be such a problem anyway? I think it helps the kilt stay at the correct height much better than one cut to a civilian waist.

I agree that the rise on a military kilt helps it conform to one's shape. It isn't the fit that bothers me about it. It's purely an aesthetic issue with proportions. Wearing a regular kilt at the natural waist is already much higher than where people wear their trousers these days, and takes some getting used to. But adding the extra rise of a military kilt can make one feel that they're wearing the kilt up to their armpits, and it drastically changes the proportions between how much shirt is showing versus how much kilt is below it. For short-torso fellows like myself, it can be a challenge to make it work with regular shirts and ties. It just feels strange to wear a shirt where the breast pocket is halfway covered up by the kilt, and it takes some experimentation to make a tie short enough without looking strange. It's not a "problem" per se, but it just requires a different expectation on proportions.

Military kilts are better suited to tall lanky fellows, and shorter people like myself have to find ways not to highlight our shortness. Proportionality has a lot to do with that, which is why I think it looks better when I wear a waistcoat over it to even those proportions back out.

[Allan Thomson]

The thing is whilst I was always slim & have proportionately long legs, short torso is definitely a description that could be applied to me & I don't remember the rize being quiet as extreme as you're saying & the Argyll's kilt I had was for a bigger man as I had to belt it to stop it slipping from the above the knee position. I would have said the rise was to under rib cage level but.nowhere near covering my shirt pocket.

I did tend to go for wearing it with a waistcoat though and I did fold the shirt over and secured it with a belt if not wearing one so that could have played a part?

[Tobus]

The thing is whilst I was always slim & have proportionately long legs, short torso is definitely a description that could be applied to me & I don't remember the rize being quiet as extreme as you're saying & the Argyll's kilt I had was for a bigger man as I had to belt it to stop it slipping from the above the knee position. I would have said the rise was to under rib cage level but.nowhere near covering my shirt pocket.

Well, that's the thing: everybody is built differently. My natural waist is right in line with the bottom of my ribcage, and about an inch above my navel. When I say "short torso", that's really what I mean. Men with a higher natural waist will have more of a struggle with high-rise kilts than men whose natural waists are lower.

The pocket issue will vary from shirt to shirt. It's one of my pet peeves, that so many shirt makers put the silly pocket so low. It should be up on the chest, not down low on my belly. The dress shirt I'm wearing today, for example, has the top of the pocket below my nipple. That's too low! Coupling that with a high-rise kilt means they will interfere.