Kilt length

[Liam]

Please allow me to add my comments a little late. The Kilt looks well positioned to me . As I understand it the belt should
be at the natural waste with the waist band of the kilt perhaps 2 inches above the top of belt. Some say the waist band
be at sternum perhaps at the military kilt level. Perhaps someone could clarify this.
It makes sense that if one is going to wear a garment to protect the wearer and keep his Kidney area warm, then that is what
the garment should do.
As far as I am aware the hem of the Kilt should reach to the top of the knee cap to be correct for decency and protection of the wearer.
As far as I am aware the hem is worn this high to prevent the pleats rubbing on the calves of the leg at the back of the of the leg below the
Knee joint. This is a problem if the hem of the kilt becomes wet. The calves then become sore with the constant rubbing of the wet cloth.
Some photos show the wearers of the heavy weight kilt with the hem slipping at the back. This shows the Kilt is not being correctly worn and the wear has never been taught how to wear the Kilt correctly.
One should remember that the Kilt originated as part of the military uniform. The regulations were developed to ensure the kilt provided the
maximum protection for the wearer for active service use. The Sargent Major would ensure his troops were correctly dressed per the book.
If they were not correctly dressed his head would roll.
It has been suggested that Civvy wearers of the kilt should wear the Kilt as part of the Civvy Uniform. Woe betide the Civvy wearer who falls foul of the Imaginary Sargent Major.
I may be going a bit over the top, but I was born in The British Isles where the Military Kilt originated. I am not intending this to become political or become a racist debate. I am stating a historical fact.
As far as I am aware the Kilt is part of the National Dress of Scotland. Please can the true Scotsmen explain why they consider the Kilt should not be worn per the book.
I can see no logical reason for paying a small fortune for a Kilt which is not worn correctly in the British Isles. How admirers of the Kilt wear the Kilt outside the British Isles Is not my concern.
There were anomalities between the book concerning the practices of the various Highland Regiments. I have been lead to believe the many Highland Regiments In the British Army have now been disbanded and There is only one Royal Regiment of Scotland.
This may be irrelevant to the thread. I would be delighted to hear from anyone who considers my statement is Incorrect with regard to the
manner in which it has been written. ......................Roderick Powell.

Sir...with respect I would suggest that the wearing of the kilt predates it's use by the military.....

[Roderick Powell]

Thank you gentlemen.
When I started wearing kilts 5 years ago, I did not cinch both top straps tight enough, so by the end of day, the "slide" had kicked in, and it was below my knees, and I needed an arm extender to open my sporran.

....Must have sometning to do with my increasing waist line as I get older.

As far as the white hose, I have several different pair/ colors now from the House of Cheviot.

As I have said in other posts, I learn something every time I log in.

I LIVE IN UK Cornwall. I have been with Scottish Ex Pats in South Dorset, say twenty miles west of Anne the Pleater for thirty five years.
We always wore what is correctly called Ivory Hose. I still wear them as they work well.
Perhaps this is Uniformity to a tradition. All the Kilties legs are covered in the same colour Kilt Hose. All the Kilts are different colours.
All the shirts are white and worn with Ties. No tartan ties are worn. This is the form for dancing.
It is a sort of phycological thing. Do not be the odd man out.
I never see a Kiltie out on the street. Anyone who has seen me may copy my style. I may then change my style, and they would
then become Confused. I feel this subject should stay in this thread until it becomes a different debate.
We are offering a Crit ( an art college term ) in what we see in photos in the thread.
What one has to watch is how the impact of the Kilt wearing changes when the Colour of the Kilt hose is changed.
I believe a thread was posted....Ten different was to wear a Kilt.
A question was asked and I stuck in my five pence worth of info. ....................Roderick............15.10.15

[Dale-of-Cedars]

Having 3 kilts in different lengths, I have abandoned my initial (p@nts-we@rer) anxiety about where the top of the kilt falls, and just peg the selvedge to the top of my knee.
As with early military kilts, they were all mostly the same length, and if the top came up to your armpits, so be it!

[craigclan]

i have 5 kilts now and they all sit about the same spot you have yours . I'm a little rounder up top so any lower and they don't stay up . Not a sight anyone really needs to see lol . Looks good... Keep it up

[freddie]

To be honest your kilt looks just a wee bit too short for my taste, my limit would be the top of the knee cap and no higher. If you wear it at the same height as the top of your belt then it should be just right. People talk about wearing The Kilt at the regimental height, but don't forget that army kilts had a much higher rise (the amount of material above the waist straps, which should be buckled up just above the hip bones) than civilian kilts.
BTW that Morrison tartan looks fantastic!

[The Wizard of BC]

I think it may be helpful to this thread to have the input of a kiltmaker.

Everyone talks about the waist height and the hem height. No one has yet mentioned the height of the bottom of the Fell.
For those not familiar with that term, the Fell is the area in the back of the kilt that is tapered and sewn down.
All the shaping of the kilt is done in the Fell and it is the length of the Fell and where the bottom of the Fell fits that determines if the kilt is being worn the way it was designed and made to be worn.

To fit well the bottom of the Fell should be at, or very near the crest of the widest part of the hips and butt. On most men this is just about the same place as the hip joint.

When a kiltmaker takes their measurements they measure from the natural waist. This is right up at the bottom of the ribs. In the back it is up at kidney level. You can find your natural waist by putting a finger just under your ribs at your side and then bending sideways towards your finger. You will feel your finger go into a natural 'hole' or depression. This is the anatomical natural waist. It may be counter-intuitive but the natural waist is anatomically the smallest part of the body. Even on gentlemen of substance. The ribs are bigger above and the "Love Handles" are bigger below. (Love handles are the nickname for the small rolls of fat we all have right under our natural waist at our sides and back right under the natural waist. Don't get upset, we all have them.)

Notice that I did not mention the naval. The position of the naval changes. The heavier a man is, the more belly he has, the lower his naval is.

But the bones don't change. The natural waist is always in the same place. Some people are longer in the torso, some shorter. The distance between the ribs and pelvis may be different. The natural waist is always right under the ribs.

The idea that old military kilts had a long or higher rise is actually a result of the width of the fabric that was issued. The kilt was made so that the hem was at the uniform knee height for that regiment. (yes, some were different than others) The Fell was sewn so the bottom of the Fell was at the crest of the butt. The straps were put on to cinch into the natural waist. And the height was whatever the width of the fabric was. Depending on the height of the soldier it could be anywhere. It did not really matter where the top of the kilt was.
So, the idea of saying that a military kilt is defined by a 4 inch rise is actually misleading. The rise was set by the height of the soldier.

The problem we have today is that no other garment in our wardrobe is designed to be worn at the natural waist. Most guys have never worn anything at the natural waist. When a kiltmaker shows a customer their natural waist they are usually met with disbelief. We can usually see the image of a fat, old, grandpa with his pants up, above his belly and his tie about 6 inches long flash through the customers mind.
But this is where the the top strap of a traditional kilt cinches into. It is one of the only garments left with a male natural waist fit.

So when you look at a kilt and evaluate it for fit you look at not just the top of the kilt or where the hem hits the knee. You must also look at where the bottom of the Fell hits the hips and butt. If the bottom of the Fell is too high the pleats will splay out. If too low they will form the shower curtain folds you so often see.

Another problem we see today are kilts that are made without any reverse flare above the top strap. To fit correctly the kilt must flare out and go up, over the ribs above the top strap. If a kilt does not have the reverse flare the smallest part of the kilt is the top waistbanding. The kilt will naturally slide down until the smallest part settles into the smallest part of the body. The natural waist. This drops the bottom of the Fell down causing shower curtain folds and the hem is dropped below the top of the kneecap.

Now, before the fire storm starts over my comments I know fully well that some do not agree with what I have just said. OK, fine. You can wear your kilt any way you want. If you want to wear a kilt made to traditional standards lower than your natural waist please go ahead. If you buy a kilt that you must wear lower on the body to get the hem to the knee then that is what you need to do.
What I have described is a custom measured Traditional Style Kilt made in accordance with "The Art of Kiltmaking".

If you have a kilt without reverse flare you do not have a traditional style kilt.
If you have a kilt made to fit anywhere other than the natural waist you do not have a traditional style kilt.

That's OK. But you cannot judge these other kilts by the traditional standard. You have to judge them by the standard by which they were made. And I'm sorry but we don't have a name for these types of kilt yet. Perhaps we need to come up with one.

The kilt shown by the OP may or may not be a traditional style kilt. It may or may not be fitting where it was built to fit. I can't tell just by what it looks like from the front. I would need to see a rear shot to see where the top strap is fitting and where the bottom of the Fell is in relation to his hips.

[Roderick Powell]

Steve, Thank you for your clarification of Kilt Making. Does the width of the roll of cloth vary between traditional and military Kilts or Is the Kilt cloth width standard from a Mill width standard ; Say a mill width or half a mill width.

Is this mill width a standard measurement or does Kilt Maker Specify his requested Millwidth Dimension . Thank you.
Roderick Powell. 2.11.2015

[MacPherson85]

I always learned that if you get on your knees, your kilt should just barely touch the ground. In the end, it all comes down to personal preference.