noticable trend of tartan knee-length shorts

[pugcasso]

This isn't exactly directly Kilt-related but I've been noticing a preponderance of guys wearing tartan knee length shorts this summer. I'm not sure if this is new this year or was also seen last year (since I wasn't wearing a kilt last summer, I may not have noticed).

Anyway, I see a lot of tartan-like shorts. Many are light colours and dark lines but some are darker tartans of different colours (like green and black).


I wonder if this is part of some subliminal cultural gravitating towards kilts which hasn't quite yet manifested beyond the knee-length shorts stage.

Sometimes I see some guy in these tartan shorts that are baggy and just think "he's so close to kiltedness ... just needs to cut that middle divider cloth out".


Anyway, just a modern trend I've noticed and wonder what it means. Perhaps it is a precursor to some sudden cultural explosion of kilt wearing (perhaps this is what all these ideas of 2012 and the Mayan Calender are all about? hmmm?). I'm not Nostradamus but I predict that after December 21, 2012, men will be walking out kilted in droves!

[Pipersson]

Hi,

one could notice this trend either in Germany...
I usually thought these guys should better decide to wear a kilt instead of these pyjama like shorts!
Kneelength+tartan=kilt

[Pleater]

Yes - in the recent sweltering weather there has been an outbreak of plaid shorts - or rather loose britches as they are not all that short, being at or below the knee.

I remember the rather startlingly short shorts worn by visiting Europeans a couple of decades ago - used to have the old dears tutting and the retired colonels losing their monocles.

The modern ones do look rather like pyjamas.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Nick the DSM]

They're usually some generic tartan, and I personally don't like the look of the patterns. It is a rising trend though.

[Dixiecat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_(cloth)

As a fashion trend, madras comes and goes.

[Tobus]

This is one of those "what's old is new again" retro trends. These were popular in the 50s, 60s, and 70s but phased out of fashion in the 80s. They weren't as baggy back then, so this is a modern rendition of that look.

[brewerpaul]

This is one of those "what's old is new again" retro trends. These were popular in the 50s, 60s, and 70s but phased out of fashion in the 80s. They weren't as baggy back then, so this is a modern rendition of that look.

Exactly, when an industry runs against a wall to come up with something new they look back at what was popular. While walking through J C Penny Co looking at dress shirts I saw a plethora of plaid snap button cowboy style shirts. I grew up wearing these in the 50's and 60's. Funny they are back, along with the plaid baggy shorts.

[Tobus]

Exactly, when an industry runs against a wall to come up with something new they look back at what was popular. While walking through J C Penny Co looking at dress shirts I saw a plethora of plaid snap button cowboy style shirts. I grew up wearing these in the 50's and 60's. Funny they are back, along with the plaid baggy shorts.

Those shirts never went out of style here in rural Texas...

[Yankee Highlander]

The 1990s had those bumbee tartan shorts also. I remember several times wearing a kilt in the summer time and people not noticing for quite some time. When they did realize what I was wearing they all said they thought I had been wearing plaid shorts like everyone else was. It was the walking around that gave me away.

I did notice sporrans being worn with plaid knee length shorts and kilt hose and flashes on a couple guys at the Central NY games last month. Turns out they didn't want to spill beer on their kilts, which they had in their car. I have to say that I didn't notice they weren't in kilts right off as they blended in pretty well.