Quote Originally Posted by Friday View Post
I still say WHY! Maybe this is the style this person likes. Maybe it has to do with a family or clan tradition. Maybe his wife knit them and he is wearing them for her.

Perhaps it should be said that YOU think they look better when the designs match. When it is said that the designs "needs to meet up" I again asks for the reference from the kilt police manual.

Different strokes for different folks.
Some of the messages I've been reading lately (not only this one) have indicated to me that some people might be overreacting a bit to what they perceive as "kilt police."

All Rathdown is saying here is that this particular pair of hose look to be made too short for those particular legs. And he's right. Maybe they shrunk. Maybe they were made too short to begin with. Who knows?

But the WHY has nothing to do with being a tartan nazi or enforcing any made up rules. It's how this style of hose are designed to be worn. They are made so that when you turn over the cuff, the pattern on the cuff meets up with the pattern on the hose, so the whole sock is covered with the same matching argyle pattern.

When the leg of the hose is too short, you either can a) fold the cuff down where it is supposed to be folded and the hose will look right in themselves but they will look short on your leg, or b) pull the hose way up and don't turn down as much of the cuff, which will perhaps put the top of the hose at the right height but will mean the argyle pattern of the cuff won't meet the sock pattern. The latter is what we see here.

It's not a negative comment on Alistair here -- heck, he probably didn't even realize his hose have shrunk! It's just a comment that, when you are buying Argyle hose, the length of the sock is an important consideration.

Pointing out that a garment isn't being worn the way it was designed to be worn is not being hyper critical. It's just a statement of fact, like pointing out to someone that the pleats go in the back of the kilt, or that shoes have a right and a left foot. That's just the way the garment is designed to be worn.

Let's not all be so quick to throw out that "tartan police" label, shall we?