Here are a few of my favorite Highland dress pet peeves that I often see at Scottish Events and Highland games... Please feel free to express your own pet peeves!
1.) Kilt Shirts aka Jacobite shirts -
2.) Men wearing a multitude of lapel pins on their bonnet -
3.) Men wearing their bonnets indoors -
4.) Men wearing their flashes wrong, e.g., around on the backside of their calf - also droopy kilt hose!
5.) kilts worn too long, droopy kilts...usually done deliberately, the offender is usually someone under 20. Also, men wearing their kilts down on their hips like blue jeans! Even my kilt will drop a bit after long day at the games or an evening of Scottish country dancing...but come on guys!...pull the kilts UP where they belong! Especially you CANADIANS! (Tom muttering under his breath, Canadians tend to wear their kilts longer than anyone else.)(Love Thompson's term for this, "Trollopy kilts"!)
6.) utilikilts and other facsimiles worn is if they are traditional Scottish National attire...
7.) wearing the wrong level of formality to an event OR mixing items of formality...example: a Prince Charlie coatee worn with daywear...or mistaking "casual" with "daywear" (they are not the same!) One would not generally wear sneakers with a suit or slacks and a sportcoat so why wear sneakers with daywear?
8.) Wearing dirks, swords, etc. to Highland games or other Scottish events! The only item of this nature that is, or should be, worn is the sgian dubh. Dirks and swords are OK for the parade of the tartans or display, but I'd personally rather see the pageantry of flags and banners! (Dirks are appropriate for very dressy formal evening wear. I don't really recommend them because you really have to lay them aside for any sort of vigorous dancing. Same with plaids!) Heck, I saw a man wear a sword to a recent Kirking of the Tartan!
9.) People who get bent out of shape when they see a man in a kilt wearing a sports coat! I honestly do not have a problem with this!
10.) Men wearing ladies tartan sashes! Come on! You KNOW you have seen this at least once! :-D
11.) The cost of kilts and accouterments! One can only hope for the good old days when the dollar was stronger!
12.) Finding a hole in a pair of $200+ Argyll Kilt hose RIGHT before an event! @#*&$$$!!!^^*)@(
13.) People who come up to you and say, "I LUV YOUR COSTUME!" I usually have to bite my tongue not to come up with a Gordon Ramsay reply!
14.) Did I mention that I HATE kilt shirts!
15.) Yes, Indeed, I loath kilt shirts...If there was anything I could do to contribute to Scottish National Dress, it would be the total elimination of the kilt shirt! No Scottish supplier, kilt maker, etc. would dream of carrying them and no self-respecting man would even consider wearing one! Wake up and retire yours to the rag pile!
16.) Men who do not know when to move their sporrans! When a gentleman is dressed in Highland attire and dances with a lady (cheek to cheek), he should move the sporran to his left hip. He should also do this when sitting down to dinner.
17.) Wearing the sgian dubh with the sheath portion in the hose with the whole handle sticking out.
18.) If I hear the old worn out, "What do are you wearing under your kilt" question one more time I can't promise I won't go "Ramsay" on them!
19.) There is some question regarding the wearing of tartan ties with the kilt. In my opinion, a tie should be left up to the man's choice, with the only rule being the constraint of good taste.
20.) Wearing kilt belts with a waistcoat....
21.) Women (who are not a part of a pipeband) wearing men's Highland attire.
CuldeeDeacon+
scottish
