Kilt height guide. Sort of.

[Regimental]

5) There is a recent trend to keep the kilt a bit lower, with the kilt covering around 2/3 of the knee or even all of the knee. Seems to me that this trend is mainly powered by newer, inexperienced kilt-wearers, and Pipe Band drummers. (Why so many Drum Corps have low kilts while the Pipe Corps have proper kilts I have no idea.)

Some of the lower kilt wearing is definitely driven by inexperienced kilt wearers not quite realising what it should look like.

But I think some of it, in my experience, is also driven more consciously by younger people wearing it in a more casual context, where wearing it at the correct height can feel/look a bit odd a bit odd around the waist (at least to people used to low waisted jeans etc) They therefore wear it lower around the waist, leading to it consequently sitting too low at the knees. This is so common, at least in Scotland, that it’s almost become a look in itself! Arguably, just as civilian kilts are shorter than military kilts due to the way they are worn, there is perhaps a case for kilts targetted at the casual / rugby / football crowds to be cut a little shorter still, to remove the issue.

[OC Richard]

Here's a modern Grade One pipe corps, most pipers have some knee showing, though one fellow's kilt is drooping in the back.

How does a kilt stay up in front and droop in back like that??



But oh dear me the drummers!!

The goal is to have no leg showing, and to have an expanse of shirt visible between waistcoat & kilt.

[KennethSime]

I enjoyed that more than I thought I would - thanks for sharing!

Some of my kilts hang top of the knee, some mid-knee. Sometimes I wear my kilts higher or lower, which further complicates matters.

If I had my druthers, all would hit top of the knee. This ensures your pleats don't beat on the back of you knees.

[OC Richard]

I see used kilts all the time, adult mens kilts, with lengths which in the old days would only be seen on youth's kilts.

Here's what happens when an adult man orders a kilt 22 inches long.

(Yes if he hiked it up to mid-knee it wouldn't be quite as obvious.)

[Regimental]

I don’t agree at all that a 22” long kilt is inherently inappropriate for an adult, or would never have been seen back in the day. For plenty of men on the shorter side, that may be entirely the right length.

What matters is getting the right length for the height of the individual, not any particular absolutes. A short man wearing a long kilt is just as silly as a tall man wearing a short kilt.

[Jock Scot]

I don’t agree at all that a 22” long kilt is inherently inappropriate for an adult, or would never have been seen back in the day. For plenty of men on the shorter side, that may be entirely the right length.

What matters is getting the right length for the height of the individual, not any particular absolutes. A short man wearing a long kilt is just as silly as a tall man wearing a short kilt.

Bravo! Well said that man!