WEARING WELL
Stories of the clothes we love TARTAN
“Centuries of history has been woven into tartan”
Growing up in Speyside, a part of north-east Scotland famed not only for its whisky, shortbread and salmon, but for its cashmere, too, meant that many a school outing was spent at the local woollen mill, stroking luxurious scraps of softness and looking at rows of bold, bright scarves – all the while wishing I was at the biscuit factory instead.
Despite that adolescent ennui, I have always loved tartan. My childhood Black Watch party dresses at Hogmanay and flash of Royal Stewart for a Burns Supper made way for the pinafores, scrunchies and oversized plaid shirts – as the Americans taught me to call them – of my teenage years, and I’ve never been far from a colourful check since.
It’s testament to tartan’s timelessness that it could simultaneously grace tins of petticoat tails, the trews of Highland lairds, and my grungy high school wardrobe. On a catwalk or in a combine harvester, this pattern never dates.
The mid-90s were a great time for tartan lovers like me. As a 16-year-old, two of my great passions, Nirvana and Clueless, unexpectedly collided when Cher Horowitz’s yellow mini kilt and the enduring flannel-shirted legacy of the late Kurt Cobain catapulted tartan into every high street shop.
I slouched around town like Scotland’s answer to Angela Chase from My So- Called Life, a look that could reliably take me from Saturday job to an afternoon of casually sitting on a wall outside a boy’s house wondering if he might notice me.
Even though ‘See You Jimmy’ hats and bath towels masquerading as kilts are now ubiquitous souvenirs, this ancient cloth somehow manages to avoid feeling like fancy dress. It’s still an unironic staple of everyday Scottish dressing, and a tartan touch makes its way into many of my outfits.
On a cold winter’s day, it’s very likely my best friend and I will find each other bundled up in matching tartan scarves, unfussily beautiful over a floral dress or a jumper. But those versatile crisscrosses do have a fancier side – fashion designers, from Alexander McQueen to Vivienne Westwood, have long been seduced by their symbolism and spirit.
All at once rebellious, classic and couthy, centuries of Scottish history has been woven into tartan: the banning of Highland dress in 1746, the clans and the clearances; the poetry, the bloodshed, the pride. But there are some strands that belong only to me, or to you: a host of multicoloured memories and a thread, waiting to be tugged, of what’s yet to come.