Wearing a kilt makes you feel attractive. Not always sexually attractive, but attractive in the sense that people notice you and are interested in you when you walk into a room- something a lotta lotta women have happen all our lives because in the crudest sense... 'we've' got boobies and 'you' like them. It can be a bit more refined than that, but basically women spend a lot of their lives being looked at, checked out, and chatted up, and most of the time there is a sexual component to it, even if only in pretense, like the flirty banter between my gay friend and I.

I think she's having a hard time with that aspect of it- that a male can (and should!) be attractive and the center of attention, and she doesn't always need to be. I'm not saying she consciously feels this way, but if I had less self-esteem or was more worried about my own attractiveness, I certainly would be miffed at all the people who talk to my husband and fawn over him and all that stuff when he's wearing a kilt or talking about his motorcycle or doing something with skiing and ignore me. (As it is, I just dump the baby in his lap and run off to dance or something if I get too bored.) I've dragged him to things where I've been the one who's engaged and charming, and he's 'just' my husband, too. But I don't think it's the female's rightful place to be put up on some social pedestal as the most attractive thing in a gathering!

It's just second nature to a lot of women, especially women who think their social standing depends on their attractiveness, to evaulate everyone in the room and who/what their attention is drawn towards. In this case, it's you, and she doesn't like it. That 'feeling special' is attractiveness, nothing more, nothing less, and it does come from inside of you- and is enhanced by what you choose to wear rather than caused by it. Perhaps if you bring up this idea, she'll recognise her own feelings and be able to deal with them, instead of focusing on your clothes.