Interesting letter

[skauwt]

after having a wee read of this topic i thought id look through some images i have of my grandfather and great grandfather to check the length of the kilt and to be honest i cant really see much of a difference ..

heres a wee pic i did to show folks what i mean about not much change
my great grandfather auld jock Bruce is from Kirkhill invernesshire (certainly not a lowlander) my grandfather stanley chisholm from the central belt like myself and of course myself with my new kilt another central belter at least now i know i need to pull those hose up some more though
Ive added dates to the image also....but hey i now know where my sparra legs come from

[jmercier]

I wear mine mid-knee, and usualy try to keep my kilt hose the width of 4 fingers below the bottom of my kilt. This is what i was told was 'proper'

That said, when i'm wearing my utilikilt or either of my 2 amerikilts, i tend to wear those slightly longer, about half an inch lower to just cover the knee cap, because they look better like that, and you dont wear kilt hose with them. Not sure if it's right, but it just seems to look more proper for the non-traditinal type

[Larry124]

I've wanted to post on this but hesitated because I’m relatively new to kilts.
Maybe there was something that I had not yet learned.
But I have noticed that “to my eyes” many kilts are worn too low.

Maybe I’m just fortunate in that at my six-foot height the twenty-four inch length of SWK (stock) and AK (measured) falls just above my kneecap – provided that I position the waist at or above the navel.

I can think of a few reasons for low kilts:
The kilt moves around. Sometimes I have to hike it up. Nothing special there. It happens with trousers and shorts too. Few I think wear their belt tight enough to prevent that.
Some gents have a “navel to knees” length that just doesn’t correspond to stock lengths.
I read somewhere that gents “with a belly” should not attempt wear the kilt below that belly.
Likely difficult in that trousers are usually worn below the gut. And high waist trousers are portrayed in the entertainment media as funny looking – nerds or old men. And “on the belly” may be uncomfortable.

Some may prefer high hose and low kilt. For warmth.
But if to “fill the gap” – expose the least skin – then maybe kilt-wearing confidence is awkward, hesitant, not yet complete?
May as well wear trousers, eh?
That’s not a jab. I know about it. My own kilted persona is not yet fully developed.

[arrogcow]

My first kilt (and Tank) was measured for me in the shop of Thomas Gordon and Sons. It hits me right in the middle of the knee cap. You'd think a kiltmaker with decades of work to their name would get it right . The only kilt I have that is up to the top of the knee is my RKilt, and my wife complains that it looks too short.

Adam

[emolas]

As far as the "correct" length of a kilt, I wear it where it feels most comfortable - anywhere from the an inch or so above the top of my knee to mid-knee depending on what feels right at the time. If someone thinks it's too short or too long then they don't have to wear theirs that way but I'll wear mine where it feels best. On a related note, I have always wondered about the "correct" length of the great kilt. In many of the paintings I have seen they come down just below mid-thigh and a good 4 inches above the knee.

[Larry124]

Are the helpful gents who say too long or too short wearing a kilt?

Ok. And then there are the helpful lasses and ladies. Bless 'em.
More serious, that.
Women do after all accept firm, fixed, and fully agreed upon rules on skirt length. They do know what looks best.
Um…

Ok. Never mind.
If the lass is fair and charming then I think that I just might agree with her.

[Aggie]

Body build makes a difference in how the kilt looks. I'm short on torso and long on leg. Above the knee looks like a mini-skirt on me. A coworker whose mother was raised in Scotland says my kilts are too short above the knee. She could be lowland, I don't know. I wear mine mid-knee. Just call me trollop.

[Jock Scot]

Whilst clearing a heap of junk from my office I came accross a letter that some of you may be interested in.It was wriiten by a Mr.Charles Edmond from Argyll and the letter was published in the Scottish Field magazine in Oct 2002.
My words in brackets.

Are Kilts Too Long?

Why is it that post war(WW2) wearers of the kilt seem to have developed a tendency to have them made, and worn, far too long?I have worn the kilt regularly since schooldays some 70-odd years ago, and we were instructed always to have the kilt worn at least an inch, to an inch-and-a-half above the kneecap, and to allow five-and-a-half inches between the top of the stockings and the bottom of the kilt. In short, we always had to have five to six inches of leg showing, or if you knelt down on the floor, one-and-a-half inches clear should always be seen.

One only needs to look, however, at today's wedding photographs to see how trollopy some kilt-wearers look with kilt and stockings almost meeting each other.

Does this phenomenon arise because the kilt makers of today's generation have not themselves been properly brought up in the wearing of the kilt, or simply don't know what is correct? Or does it arise from the fact that the kilt is no longer an obligatory garment at school, or in some of the armed forces, or what used to be the OTU(Officers Training Unit) where we were all obliged to wear the kilt? What a pity we can't get it right.C.E 2002


Food for thought,perhaps?

Alright I know this is an old thread of mine, but I guess that many new members(old members too) may not have seen this.It may raise a comment or two?

[Mael Coluim]

Gh, my gosh sir! I think I got it right. Except for those long days when the kilt may have moved down a bit.

[Sir William]

Jock -

Wecome back and thanks for resurrecting the thread.

I was always told no higher than above the kneecap and no lower than mid-knee. My first two kilts measured to mid-knee but now my personal preference is just above the kneecap. And, I like my hose about 3-4 inches below the knee, which gives about a six-inch space between kilt and hose.

When I was measured for one of my kilts in Edinburgh in 2006, the salesman suggested wanted to measure me to mid-knee but I insisted at the top of the knee - which he implied was too short. I thought nothing of it until I ordered another kilt from a major kilt maker at one of our major games and the Scottish representative also suggested it should measured to mid-knee.

I personally think a kilt worn below the knee presents a very poor appearance - but each to their own (fashion) taste.

I would also tend to agree with a previous comment about wedding photographs - how many are wearing hired kilts or perhaps a loaner from a relative?