By the mid-1970s, ’67’s reunion organizers began to think it was time for a more traditional pre-25th outfit of the sort that covered the bod from head to foot. The one eventually chosen even came with ’67 socks.

If memory serves, the design first arose during a brainstorming session at the 8th Reunion in 1975. Some classmate (not moi) said “How about kilts?” Other heads nodded speculatively. Incoming Reunion Chairman Buck Wood came up with the slogan "Scots on the Rocks" and (I think) the logo, too. That ’cept gathered momentum in subsequent Class discussions. The, ummm, cross-dressing aspect did arouse some misgivings, but no alternative motif emerged.

Back then I was living in North Carolina, home in those pre-NAFTA days to many textile firms. So I volunteered to produce the kilt outfit, my first foray into costume design. The key element turned out to be industry-standard patterns of red-&-black tartan fabric that I was able simply to order in orange instead. Ditto orange-&-white argyle socks. “Auld Nassau” bonnets were easy enough to mock up out of black berets. To complete the ensemble, each classmate was told to bring from home any white shirt he wanted to wear. While nowhere near as cheap to produce as our earlier minimalist apparel, the $30 Scots outfit was still pretty reasonably priced as ’67’s first full-body costume ensemble.

Though the ’67 kilt outfit was an original design, it was not an original theme. Later research revealed that the Class of ’34 had worn kilts before us, as had ’04 before them.

On the classic question of what to wear underneath, guys were told via the Class Notes that anything goes—but ultimately advised to wear shorts. The kilts turned out to be tricky to put on, and the hats a tad hot. (Lessons for the future.) Some classmates hated the outfit, some loved it, and many simply donned it in the quirky spirit of P-rade couture.