MacGregor and Cameron of Erracht Tartans, do I wear?

[HarveyH]

There are several fashion tartans about, some are very nice like "The Isle of Skye"or "The MacLately" or "The Scottish Wildcat" for example,...

Interesting observation - when did a tartan cease being a 'fashion' tartan and become that of a stated clan, so that they cease to be wearable by anyone? As we know for most of the 'clan' tartans, the particular tartan origin happens to be in the name a weaver gave to the cloth as a 'fashion' item, which time has allowed to fix, or be adopted, by the actual clan.

As for MacLately I am sure that none of the members of the Forum for which it was designed would mind anyone wearing it, but it is essentially in the same category as a 'club' tie. So wear it if you like it, but be prepared to be recognised as a member of a European Kilt Forum.

And as for the kilt police, well they need to learn some good manners. I have written about culture here before, but this forum of supposed ladies and gentleman, needs to learn to be able to have good disagreement and neither baulk at opinions with which we have difficulty, nor patronize other's opinions in a way which is equally offensive.

[figheadair]

Interesting observation - when did a tartan cease being a 'fashion' tartan and become that of a stated clan, so that they cease to be wearable by anyone? As we know for most of the 'clan' tartans, the particular tartan origin happens to be in the name a weaver gave to the cloth as a 'fashion' item, which time has allowed to fix, or be adopted, by the actual clan.

A good question and one for which there are a number of answers; although if one wanted to pick a date I'd say 1815 and the formation of the Highland Society of London's Collection for which Chiefs (of Highland Clans only at that point) were asked to submit a piece of their clan tartan.

The naming of clan and family patterns was given a huge boost in the years immediately prior to George IV's royal visit to Edinburgh in 1822, an event stage managed by Sir Walter Scott, who urged the Scots to turn out ‘plaided and plumed in their true tartans' to meet their King. This led James Logan, author of ‘The Scottish Gael’, to complain that this appeal had:

‘combined to excite much curiosity among all classes, to ascertain the particular tartans and badges they were entitled to wear. This creditable feeling undoubtedly led to a result different from what might have been expected: fanciful varieties of tartan and badges were passed off as genuine’.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[Jock Scot]

Post deleted. J.S.

[English Bloke]

Just to clear up a bit of misunderstanding about the MacLately tartan. As one who was involved in the original concept of the MacLately I can speak with a measure of authority. It was formed during a weekend meet-up of kilt wearing mates in Rotterdam in 2013 and fueled further by several glasses of laughing water and a hearty meal. The back story is quite involved but the nuts and bolts of the idea was to produce a tartan which anyone could wear, particularly those who may not have a specific tartan to which they belong and/or who may feel uncomfortable about wearing existing tartans to which they may believe they have "no entitlement". The MacLately is not a club tie, or a tartan for members of a particular web forum. It does not, and never was intended as an "identifier" in fact it's just the opposite. It is an open tartan. If you like it, you can wear it.

There are ten MacLately kilts currently in existence and I believe there are two kilt lengths of fabric remaining from the original bolt. The first run was produced by Marton in their Jura weight (16oz) and to date there are no MacLately kilts outside Europe. But that's not to say there can't be and demand dictates whether there will be more runs in the future.

Please don't read more into the MacLately than this, you don't need any affiliation to any clan or any web forum or any other group to wear a MacLately kilt. Even if you do have a family tartan, you can still wear the MacLately as your "other" kilt. It has no significance other than it looks good.

[Peter Crowe]

Just to clear up a bit of misunderstanding about the MacLately tartan. As one who was involved in the original concept of the MacLately I can speak with a measure of authority. It was formed during a weekend meet-up of kilt wearing mates in Rotterdam in 2013 and fueled further by several glasses of laughing water and a hearty meal. The back story is quite involved but the nuts and bolts of the idea was to produce a tartan which anyone could wear, particularly those who may not have a specific tartan to which they belong and/or who may feel uncomfortable about wearing existing tartans to which they may believe they have "no entitlement". The MacLately is not a club tie, or a tartan for members of a particular web forum. It does not, and never was intended as an "identifier" in fact it's just the opposite. It is an open tartan. If you like it, you can wear it.

There are ten MacLately kilts currently in existence and I believe there are two kilt lengths of fabric remaining from the original bolt. The first run was produced by Marton in their Jura weight (16oz) and to date there are no MacLately kilts outside Europe. But that's not to say there can't be and demand dictates whether there will be more runs in the future.

Please don't read more into the MacLately than this, you don't need any affiliation to any clan or any web forum or any other group to wear a MacLately kilt. Even if you do have a family tartan, you can still wear the MacLately as your "other" kilt. It has no significance other than it looks good.

Giving this post an 'Aye' does not seem enough English Bloke, Your involvement in the 'MacLately' project confirms my belief that you are a thoroughly decent bloke and a 'good egg'.

[English Bloke]

Giving this post an 'Aye' does not seem enough English Bloke, Your involvement in the 'MacLately' project confirms my belief that you are a thoroughly decent bloke and a 'good egg'.

Thank you Peter. You are too kind.

[OC Richard]

I got interested in this MacLately thing so I Googled it and came across, naturally, this wonderfully designed site:

http://www.maclately.eu/gallery

The tartan is quite nice and accomplishes the difficult task of creating a tartan that is clearly different from other tartans yet has a "ain't born yesterday" look to it.

Very nice the rear photos (as strange as such things must seem to non-kiltwearers) showing how different the backs of kilts of the same tartan can look when pleated in various ways.

Just out of curiosity, who has the remaining fabric and is any of it for sale?