The Importance of knowing the Rules of Kilted Fashion

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

With all due respect, Rathdown, I must beg to differ. The un-latched bottom button was the habit of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). He was a full-bodied person by nature and habit and a fop by choice, but he did not fashion the fashion. That honour belongs to those in his large circle who wished to follow his need for flexible attire with their emulation, regardless of circumference. Today, the un-done bottom button is the convention, if not the rule.

Edward's son was George V, but he was never known as "German Geordie" -- that sobrique (?) belongs to his "George" ancestor of more than a hundred years prior. George V sired Edward VIII, the one who made his grandfather's preferred knot popular as a direct result of his post-abdication celebrity in America as Duke of Windsor. I've never heard the "duke of necktie" story before; maybe the Duchess created it some years later for an interview in their NY home?

Regardless of history, what a lovely knot the Duke of Windsor's valet bequeathed to us a half-century ago and how grand it is that an earlier Wales saw a future need for expandable waistcoats

All of which you say is correct, except you have overlooked the bit where I was responding in a humorous, rather than historical vein. Oh. And I didn't mention waistcoats, because I think they are far too serious a subject to make sport of. Or, because I think waistcoats are far too serious a subject of which to make sport (for those of you out there who decry poor grammar).