Made-to-measure kilts and Highland formalwear, Gold Coast
Whether you're marking a wedding, a graduation, a Burns Night or a black-tie occasion, our kilts and Prince Charlie jackets are cut and fitted to you, never pulled from a size rack. Each piece is made to a pattern drafted for your measurements, so the jacket sits true across the shoulders, the kilt hangs cleanly, and you look right from the first photograph to the last dance.
What separates a made-to-measure kilt from a hired one
A traditional kilt takes around eight yards of cloth. The pleats at the back are set either to the sett, repeating the full tartan pattern across the back, or to the stripe, which pulls a single colour into a vertical line. Neither is more correct. They simply look different, and the choice should be yours, not the rack's.
Those pleats are stitched down through the fell, the section between the waist and the hip, then left free below, so the kilt swings rather than hanging flat. Get the fell wrong, and the kilt bellies out over the seat. A kilt also sits higher than trousers, at the natural waist, and should finish at the top of the kneecap when you kneel. Those two measurements are where most off-the-peg Highland dress goes wrong, and they are the two we take most carefully.
Prince Charlie, Argyll, or both
The Prince Charlie is the black-tie jacket: short, cutaway at the front, silver buttons, worn with a three-button waistcoat and a bow tie. The Argyll is the day jacket — a longer, squared front with gauntlet cuffs, at home at a daytime wedding or a graduation and comfortable enough to keep on all evening. If you expect to wear Highland dress more than once, one kilt with both jackets covers nearly every occasion you will meet.
Choosing your tartan and cloth
Your tartan might be a family sett, a district or regimental one, or simply the one you like best. There is no rule requiring a bloodline. We will show you the options and how each cloth weight behaves in Queensland heat, which matters a good deal more here than it does in Scotland. We work only in natural fibers, and our tartan cloth is woven in Scotland by the renowned mill Locharron.
How the fitting works
Everything starts with about an hour at our Mermaid Beach studio. We talk through the occasion, the jacket, the waistcoat, and the finishing details, sporran, hose, flashes, belt, and buckle, then take your measurements and draft the pattern from scratch. Every Praetorian garment is designed in Australia.
Allow around 12 weeks from that appointment to the finished outfit. If your date is fixed, come to us earlier rather than later; we would rather build in room than rush a final fitting.
Book a fitting and wear something made entirely for you.