Wardrobe Malfunction or Poor Judgement?

[tennysonw]

In February, I was invited to attend the 'Mystery and Fantasy Mardi Gras Ball' here in Houston. This Ball is black tie or ‘theme costume’ only. This year’s theme was ‘Mysteries of Aladdin’. This was my first opportunity to wear a kilt!

The evening was very warm so I decided to wear a 13oz 5-yard kilt. I was afraid the 16oz 8-yard kilt would be uncomfortable. I wore the kilt high enough to meet the Prince Charlie waistcoat. Everything looked fine at home but after seeing the attached photo (taken in a dark bar) I was very disappointed in my appearance; you can see my shirt below the waistcoat.



The Prince Charlie jacket is a 44 long and fits perfectly in the chest, so here are my questions to the forum:

Did I have a temporary wardrobe malfunction?
Should a Prince Charlie jacket only be worn with an 8-yard kilt?
Is an Argyle jacket longer than a Prince Charlie?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[McMurdo]

It seems to me that the kilt has slid down during the evening's festivities as it looks a bit low. Another thought is that all of that was caused by the unnatural way the kilt waistcoat et al were made to sit because you wore a belt with the waistcoat. You ask should a PC only be worn with an 8 yard kilt? Well it can be worn with other types of kilt but to me it looks best with an 8 yard 16oz wool kilt. The Argyll jacket is a wee bit lower than the P.C. Another tip is your Ghillie Brogues it looks as if you have the laces way too high they are not meant to look like Roman sandals. Here is a good article on how to tie them.
http://www.bagpipejourney.com/articl..._brogues.shtml

[Panache]

Wesley,

Your initial mistake was to be photographed next to an experienced X Marker

Glen summed up your slight wardrobe problem

Next time round you won't have any issues

Cheers

Jamie

[davedove]

Glen summed up the situation pretty well. It looks to me like you are wearing the kilt too low.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Your kilt may be a bit short-waisted-- in that instance you might want to consider wearing it with suspenders to help hold it in place on formal occasions.

Next, the waist belt doesn't help. It wants to slide down, under your tummy, taking the kilt with it. This creates the dreaded "gaposis", which is one of the reasons why you shouldn't wear a waist belt under your waistcoat.

Check the length of your waistcoat. When worn it should be the same length as your coatee. For some reason (probably the economics of how many waistcoat fronts can be cut from a yard of cloth) many suppliers only supply one "length" of waistcoat. This is okay if you are a "S", barely tolerable if you are a "R" and totally too short if you are a "L".

Large and tall gentlemen usually require a deeper cut to the front (often with four buttons instead of three) in order to have the waistcoat fit properly.

For a proper fit, the front points of a Prince Charile coatee should be about 4 inches below the top edge of a traditionally cut kilt to insure that it doesn't "gap" on the sides. The points of the waistcoat should be the same length as the points of the jacket.

Dress Argyll jackets are cut longer than coatees, with the result that there are fewer problems with gapping, provided the waistcoat covers the top two inches of the kilt.

Finally, if you had been wearing any colour of hose, other than white, no one would have noted your shoe laces!

[The Wizard of BC]

How a Kilt is worn is not a function of how much yardage there is in the Kilt as it is how the Kilt was made to Fit.

I, as a maker of Contemporary Style Kilts, allow the customer to determine the Fit of their Kilt.
A Traditional Style Kilt however is supposed to Fit with the top straps cinched into the Natural Waist. On most men the Natural Waist is not found by looking at the stomach but by feeling around back near the spine.

If you place your hand with the fingers along your spine and move it up and down you will probably find three places where there are hollows that a Kilt could be cinched into.
The highest will be just over the Kidneys and just below the ribs. This is your Natural Waist. It will also be just above any "Love Handles" you may have.
The next lower spot will be in the Nape or small of your back. If you cinch the straps into this area the Kilt will sit just on top of the Pelvis bones.
The lowest spot will be down at the area where your Butt starts to jut out. This is where Blue Jeans are worn.

It would appear from the photo that the Kilt you are wearing is designed and made to sit at the Midddle cinching place. (What I call Mid-Rise)

A Prince Charlie Jacket is designed to be worn with Kilts made to cinch at the higher level or Natural Waist. (What I call Full Rise)

A Traditional Kilt should also have 2" of Rise above the top Straps. The Kilt should flair out above the straps allowing it to ride up and over the lower ribs slightly.

So, If your Kilt was made to ride at Mid-Rise then perhaps you should not wear this Kilt with your Prince Charlie Jacket.
The other thing that may happening is that the Kilt was not made with the pleats flaring out above the straps. This will cause the smallest part of the Kilt to nestle into your Natural Waist and the whole Kilt to ride too low.

And then again, Perhaps it was a good party, perhaps it was late in the evening, perhaps the Kilt just slipped down while the photo was taken. And perhaps you were just standing funny for the photo to be taken. I know I would probably stand funny with that tall turbaned fellow that close behind me.

Put the same outfit on again and look in a full length mirror. That's the only real way to tell what happened here.

[Zardoz]

"the dreaded "gaposis"

You have to love the Engish language! Even the most obscure pet peeves are easily named!

Since I am the "experienced X Marker" on the right, lemme weigh in with a comment or two,

I had the problem with 3 button waistcoats that MacMillan describes;
I tend to wear my custom made kilts "midrise" with the top of the kilt about 1 1/2 or so inches above my navel. When I was putting my formal kit together I picked up a nice used waistcoat at a tux resale store, but after trying it on with the kilt and all, I thought the vest was very close to being too short on me. The back of it was an inch or so above the top of my kilt, not a big deal, but I though it would look bad if I removed my jacket. I returned the vest, and looked in vain for a longer one, used or new, but no luck!
I ended up getting a nice 'backless' type vest like comes with most rental tailcoat deals from Uniformalwearhouse. Honestly, it was not my first choice, but it has the benefit of being adjustable for length and waist, and is certainly not as hot as the full vest would have been.

Wesley, all things considered, as that was your first wearing of the kilt, you were looking stellar! As the guys have noted, next time hiking the kilt up a bit would help. Unlike our clan here, I doubt any of the folks at the ball even noticed the issue.

[ChattanCat]

I think you look grand.

[Phogfan86]

The guy to your left is dressed like that and you're worried about how you look?

[Zardoz]

The guy to your left is dressed like that and you're worried about how you look?

That's nothing! Off topic, but perhaps you missed my photos of that event?
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/k...956/index.html

Quite a party!