Not a gent - but I have been making clothes for 50 years - I started by dressing my dolls, and one of them sits on the bookcase even now.

The change in the economy might actually benefit the wearer of quality garments as the attitude to garments which are bought and worn for a few months then discarded, changes.

There might even be a reduction in the availability of such garments as the Tiger economies need to grow just to survive. A figure of 8 percentage points of growth per annum seems to be the survival level, and below that an implosion would begin, faster or slower depending on how far below 8 the level of production falls.

Just as the family recently fallen on hard times eats better as the freezer is being emptied of all the more expensive items being kept for special occasions, as cheaper clothes wear out and are not replaced, kilts might become more common out on the streets as they become the last smart thing on the wardrobe rail.

Also, if people are unemployed or on a short working week they might decide to try kilt making to pass the time, and take their minds off their problems. There might also be the need to stand out, a hope that 'the one in the kilt' might get someone's attention.

There was a program on TV recently about the advertising man - David Ogilvy who would wear a kilt to stand out from the crowd and be memorable.

Although buying kilts might be less common, the same pressure to economise might bring them out of the closet.

Anne the Pleater