Plus: Lisa solves your fashion dilemmas below
Is this cultural appropriation? I’ve parsed every cranny of my ancestral tree back to 1753 (no exaggeration) and there’s not one wee drop of Scottish. So apologies, but know that this kilt has been appropriated with huge affection and admiration – I’m a sucker for pleats and those adorable kilt pins – and also a degree of trepidation.
Put bluntly, kilts are not easy. They were never really conceived as a let’s-come-up-with-something-that-flatters-female-curves item of clothing. More a ‘see how much buttock-biting cold weather my nether regions can withstand, you effete English muppet’.
You can tell the kilt was originally designed for men. The classic kilt looks best when it falls straight up and down with zero accommodation for feminine hips. Skims they are not. This is why some of the trad ones you think will look amazing – heavily discounted in a tourist shop on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile – don’t.
If you fancy a kilt this season (and after that Dior show in Scotland this summer, who doesn’t?) then you must shop carefully. Walk away from the Royal Mile, and focus on someone who cuts for a womanly body. That would be Dior.
But then again, you might have to sell a kidney, remortgage your home and throw in your firstborn. Could be worth it, but there are less costly options. With caveats. You absolutely can’t have pleats that fall from the waist – that’s so unflattering you might as well wear a padded balloon. You want one that’s flat over the tummy and then descends into pleats – so this skirt from Albaray looks promising.
Flannel pleated skirt, £99, Albaray
Worried about le frump? If you have the legs, mini kilts are adorable. Next has some good ones, but this Burberry one takes the shortbread. Or how about some Comme des Garçons-esque asymmetry in the form of this stunning burnt-orange offering from Cos? Try sizing up so that it sits on your hips rather than falls from the waist.
Burberry Wool kilt, £1,490, MyTheresa
Asymmetric pleated skirt, £85, Cos
If you’re shorter and find kilt styles make you look boxy, a maxi is a lovely, elongating alternative, especially for dressed-up winter evenings. Add a split and you evade any potential dowdiness. Some have pleats just at the back. Others are kilt adjacent – like this wafty Massimo Dutti number.
Checked flared skirt, £119, Massimo Dutti
Maje Asymmetric wool blend skirt, £299, Selfridges
Wool Celt kilt, £149, Celtic & Co
The one I’m wearing, from Le Kilt, is wonderful for all kinds of reasons. It’s crafted from 100 per cent fine British wool, is made in Scotland and drapes beautifully. Le Kilt is a small, indie, female-led label – and so good that when Maria Grazia Chiuri of the aforementioned Dior decided to design a Scottish-inspired collection, she collaborated with Le Kilt. It is Le Kilt you see in Dior’s catwalk pictures, albeit rather luxed-up.
Not that a Le Kilt isn’t luxurious in its own right. Compared with the high street, it’s also pricey. But a good kilt is for life. They even happen to make one called The Lisa. Maybe I can claim some Scottishness after all.
Lisa wears: Cashmere tank, £59.90, Uniqlo; British wool kilt, £550, Le Kilt; Patent leather shoes, £450, Dear Frances; Pearl, zirconia and recycled gold vermeil earrings, £455, Completedworks; Gold plated bangle, £25, Orelia. Hair and make-up: Oonagh Connor at Joy Goodman, using Monika Blunder and delilah. Styling: Sophie Tobin. Stylist’s assistant: Hansveni Dave. Middle Temple Hall and private gardens can be booked for celebrations and weddings – please contact events@middletemple.org.uk
Lisa solves your style dilemmas
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