Though the tartan pattern was the national symbolic dress of Scotland since 1782, it would not become popular among the locals until the year 1822 when George IV made his first royal visit to Scotland. From there it traveled over to England where it would be Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Edward that really embraced the tartan into not only the world of royal British fashion and the closets of women as well as men, but into home decor as well. As a result of this adoption of rural Scotland Highland dress, the tartan soon became associated with British aristocracy and military and developed an air of dignity and exclusivity. By the 1970s we would see an unorthodox use of this same tartan pattern adorned unconventionally on youth in the British Isles as a symbol of the anti-establishment and discontent against modern society. Even today, we see a resurgence of models on the European and American high fashion runways, trotting in tartan Haute Couture fashions by designers such as Alexander McQueen, Ralph Lauren, and Thakoon.
With its span over time and class association, it is safe to say that the tartan craze has been one that has conjured up mixed feelings and reviews. At times both scrutinized and glanced over, embraced and refused, adopted and abandoned, these assorted “plaids” as North Americans would call them, have been historically woven with cultural roots tracing back to Tartan Clans in Scotland, adopted by traditionalists and fashionistas over the years, and undeniably linked with subculture fashion more oft than not along the way.
Today the opinion that tartan can be worn by anyone is still met with a less liberal attitude that reserves its use to those of royal bloodline. And while the Black Watch, Campbell, Caledonian, Hunting Stewart and Jacobite tartans are accepted as “universal” or free for all to wear, the Burberry Check associated with the British Royal Family is not one of them.
From exclusive hand woven artisans in the hills of Scotland, to the congested racks of our local thrift stores, tartan conjures up images that span across race and culture as one of the textile industries most widely used and applied patterns. Which one is your favorite?
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