Nicholas Daley Wrap Kilt – Green

This kilt is made in Scotland, and almost nothing Nicholas Daley makes is. His production runs through England, Japan, Portugal, and Turkey, including the cloths woven to his own setts by Scottish mills and then sent south of the border to be made up. For a designer whose Scottish inheritance runs through the entire collection, having the kilt itself made in Scotland is not a logistics decision. It is the point.

What is unusual is the cloth. A kilt is a wool garment by every convention there is, and this one is linen: a bast fibre from the flax stalk, cool, strong, entirely without stretch, and committed to creasing. Linen changes what a kilt is. Wool holds a pleat under its own weight and swings; linen is lighter, crisper, and creases where it folds, so the pleats read as sharp folds rather than as heavy drapes. It also moves the garment decisively into summer, which is not a season the kilt has historically had. The cotton lining is what makes it possible, since linen light enough to wear in heat is close to transparent on its own.

Green rather than a tartan keeps the whole thing plain. There is no sett, no clan, and nothing to belong to.

We took this because it was made in Scotland rather than merely woven there, and because a summer kilt in linen is a genuinely new idea rather than a variation on an old one. It is the kilt we would argue hardest for.

Nicholas Daley returns to the kilt across collections, and this one, made in Scotland in linen, is the furthest he has taken the garment from its own conventions.

Body one hundred percent linen. Lining one hundred percent cotton. Made in Scotland. Wrap construction. Colour: Green.

A wrap garment, so the fit is governed by how it is wrapped and fastened rather than by a fixed waist, which makes it forgiving. Linen relaxes across a day of wearing and returns with pressing. The cotton lining gives it enough body to hold the pleat and enough opacity to be worn without thinking about it.

With a plain white or ecru shirt and a sandal, which is the summer version and the correct one. It is green linen over a cotton lining, as the Wide Leg Cargo Pant in green is. Keep everything above it plain; a green linen kilt does not need help.

Wash cool and gently or have it cleaned, and dry flat or on a line away from heat. A lined garment takes a long time to dry and will distort if it is hung wet. Press the pleats on the reverse while slightly damp, which is when linen presses best. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

The Wrap Kilt in black cotton is the plain cotton wrap and the Wrap Kilt in turmeric and navy the mohair check. The Wide Leg Cargo Pant in green linen is the trouser in the same green, and the Patchwork Tam O Shanter the hat. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.