ANTA’S TARTANS
Annie Stewart talks about her love of tartan and how it has inspired her designs
Can you talk us through the history of clan tartans?
I think that the idea of clan tartans, where families have deep associations with particular designs, was actually a Victorian invention. In reality, I believe families would end up wearing the same tartans because they lived in the same area (and tended not to move) and it’s much easier – and cheaper – to weave one long pa!ern, rather than a variety. In early portraits, if the same person is depicted wearing a number of di "erent tartans in di "erent paintings, then this is probably because they could a "ord to travel around and to buy them.
Tartan seems to be a focus in your designs – what do you love about it?
Tartan is quintessentially Sco!ish, so it makes sense for us to work within its discipline. And, as a colourist, using tartan allows me as a designer to employ an orderly system and work on endless subtle colour variations. It’s the versatility of tartan that makes the designs so intriguing. I’m fascinated by the ways in which colours behave when combined. When two colours cross in a tartan they create a new intermediate shade.
Do you collect antique tartans?
I’ve inherited a few Cockburn (my maiden name) family tartans, which date from the 18th century – I have one silk, one heavy wool and one in # ne wool. Some are quite faded now as they’ve been exposed to the light. The subdued hues inspired me to begin playing with colours in my own designs.
What was the rst tartan that you designed for Anta?
Generally, I like to make up my own pa!erns, but the # rst tartan I recoloured and made my own was a version of the historical Erskine design in 1984. Traditionally, this is a perfectly balanced red and green pa!ern [below]. The green checks exactly repeat the red in reverse. When two opposite colours in the colour wheel appear together at the same pitch, and you half close your eyes, they disappear to form a mid-tone grey. The # rst time I played with this concept was with Erskine – and I used pink and lime green. I like to think of it as a ‘cocktail’ tartan. When it comes to our designs, I disrupt the rules while still working within a system.