Contemporary Kilts -- a Visual guide....

[S Mitchell]

I'm bumping this thread, because I think it could be very useful, and I want to see it survive. For instance; I need some boots. I live in the middle of nowhere, so I can't just wrap on a kilt and go shopping for them. If it can't be bought at Wal-Mart, it has to be mail ordered. Do I want 10" jump boots? The Life-in-a-kilt looks great in them, but he's about 6'14" tall. Are my legs too short for them to look good? Am I too fat to pull off the look? How about 8 eyelet Docs? Are they too short?(how can we not have a "Boot" thread stickied?) Yes, I'm too old to care what people think of me, but I want to respect the kilt. I think this thread would be great for that kind of question, because the title of the thread screams "Picture Thread". Now we contemporary kilt wearers need to get on the stick and post some pictures! Many thanks to Mael, and the others that have posted pictures. I promise I'll post some soon.......

I like my 14 eyelet Doc Marten boots. I'm 6'2" and I don't think they're too tall.

They're the only footwear I wear with my utility kilts but I also wear them frequently with my tartan kilts, mostly when I'm wearing a tee shirt.

I don't have a good photo of those boots with my tartan kilt, but here they are, back when they were still pretty new, with my utility kilt.



Now days I tend to wear my hose a bit more bunched up than that and my boots are definitely more beat up.

I also have an old pair of 8 eyelet Docs which I occasionally wear with my tartan kilts, especially when I'll be outdoors on my feet a lot and I'm going casual but not quite combat boot casual. With the short boots, I prefer to wear my hose traditionally. Here I am at Disney Land wearing them.



I don't know how the hose would look scrunched down with these boots. I've never tried. Again, I'd probably only wear them scrunched down if I were wearing a tee shirt or some such.

[rondo]

OK, I'm replying to my own post, which is probably the height of arrogance, but I found a picture so I can contribute;
This happens to be a tartan kilt, but I wear my canvas kilts exactly the same way. These 6" hiking boots are the ones I'm replacing...........

Very cool, tom, I play bass too.
Rondo

[Taskr]

A very interesting discussion of the remarkable array of personal style.

Traditional "existing in or as part of a tradition; long-established"
Contemporary "belonging to or occurring in the present."

To me, my kilt is traditional - a natural waist, hand sewn 8yds of 16oz tartan produced as has been long established. There are older established kilt producing methods, perhaps these enter the realm of historic if not simply older tradition. My kilt is worn to belong in the present, to mix in with contemporary styles of dress. Not the fads or the cultish; contemporary. I do not own a contemporary kilt - one produced in other than traditional style; be that low waisted, tartan or other, machine sewn, snaps, velcro - materials and processes reflective of the present and not the past. Not that I won't own a contemporary, just haven't gotten there yet. Could it be worn in traditional style - I would imagine it could make a darn good facsimile of it.

Fun discussion, all. Cry "kilt" and release the expressions of diversity.

[Shuteye]

I'm a little late to this discussion regarding boots but here's a link to my Flickr album "kilted". I haven't don't so in a while, but when out in the garden with tripod I'll occasionally entertain myself getting kilt pics. The hiking boots are light weight Lowas (the light tan and dark blue bulky boots). The brown lace ups are made by Born and my favorites (can't find the exact model on their website anymore . The black boots are Redwing Iron Rangers which require a bit of breaking in but are awesome. The socks are snow boarding socks. They work well scrunched and come to mid calf when pulled up. This forum has helped me in the past with the many pics for style decisions and I appreciate it!

The trad is a 5 yard in the Marshall tartan. The others are all Utilikilts, many purchased used on eBay (I own 9 and wear them all the time when not working). The Utilikilts have all seen a lot of wear over the last 5-6 years.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/632266...7631508461059/