Tartans that non-clan/non-scot can wear

[Jock Scot]

The same follows with Regimental, old school, club ties etc, Alan. I must confess that I do often wonder where all this proliferation of tartan is going to end. I note with a certain amount of ironic satisfaction that there are quite a large number of fairly recently designed and registered tartans that for various reasons rarely catch on. I have no doubt that some tartans from way back also never caught on either.

Yes I know, some----a very few----like the wildcat tartan are for a good cause and I applaud that to an extent and some, like the Skye tartan is a commercial success as a fashion tartan. These few are exceptions and thank goodness for that.

I think much of this is due to the modern kilt wearing trends-----particularly, although not exclusively, outwith these shores-----of having little loyalty to a specific tartan and seem to see merit in collecting tartans in kilt form for fairly shallow reasons such as, liking the colours. I suppose its inevitable in many ways, particularly as one can buy tartan, err ummm kilts, much less expensively these days which does encourage the situation. Many will say, "and a jolly good thing too" and fair enough. However like you, I am distinctly uneasy where its going to end.

[WillowEstate]

Given your location, how about the Philippine Heritage?
https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/ta...ails?ref=10660

There are weaving restrictions and possibly others but may be worth checking out?

[O'Callaghan]

Katia,
The short answer, as Jock has implied, is that nobody in Scotland is much bothered about which tartan you wear.
Obviously, if you wear dress Maclean of Duart for example, and are not a Maclean then some Macleans may take you to task. It is therefore useful to have a "justification" for your choice such as "It belonged to my great uncle twice removed" even if the truth is "I liked it", "It was very cheap" ... and that philosophy must apply equally to district tartans.
This seems to me to pose the question "What does tartan really mean in this day and age? Indeed, "What did it ever really mean?" Apellations such as 'hunting', 'dress', 'dance', 'fashion', 'district' are all of relatively recent origin and have generally been promulgated for commercial gain. Added to this is the modern proliferation of tartans produced by computer software whereas, in my young day, it was quite possible to recognise the few dozen tartans then in existence. Of course, the Sobieski Stuarts, Wilsons of Bannockburn and others started this 200 odd years ago. But, does a sense of allegiance really mean that there can be a tartan for a university, a firm, a rare animal, a computer site for fans of Highland dress, to celebrate the Commonwealth Games and so on and on? Will we end up with people saying "That's a pretty tablecloth you're wearing today"? "Oh, it's 'Claret Shiel', 'Ancient Bogendreep', 'East Lochaber Tiddliwinks Association' ..."
End of rant.
Alan

I thought the East Lochaber Tiddliwinks Association was quite humourous, but it's really only a slight exaggeration of the tartans out there. As Jock intimated, some of the more obscure tartans never caught on.

For example, I mentionned London, which has at least three tartans, but the only one you can really get is one originally woven to commemorate the Lord Mayor's Show. Why that one and not the others? There is no simple answer. But then, London is far from obscure. 8 million people live there, and some of them are even Scots. I believe you can even get hold of a German Heritage tartan fairly easily. I can certainly think of reasons why you might prefer that to a pair of lederhosen, but ...? Perhaps it's for Americans that want to honour their Scots and German family branches at the same time?

I can even get my Irish family tartan, if I want to pay that much. Notice I say family and not clan, even though there certainly is an eponymous clan, but Irish chiefs, unlike Scottish ones, are not in the business of recognising tartans. For that matter, the Irish government no longer recognises the chiefs, but of the 24 they once did, I don't think you can find a tartan for all 24, perhaps because the tartan industry prefers to hawk county tartans, of which there two entire sets made by two different mills! Not to mention at least 8 different tartans claiming to represent Ireland the country, not counting the unobtainable ones. All of which is made even more ridiculous by the old recommendation by the Gaelic League that Irish kilts should be solid green or solid saffron.

If I had unlimited disposable income, I would probably buy kilts in London, Callaghan and Munster tartans. By Munster I mean the Irish kingdom , not the German one. The first Callaghan was king of Munster back in the 10th century. This is not in line with what a highlander would do, i.e. stick to one clan, but I am a Sassenach, and most of the people reading this are Americans.

Well, that's enough rambling from me. Not sure where I was going with this?

[OC Richard]

Given your location, how about the Philippine Heritage?
https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/ta...ails?ref=10660

Yikes that suffers from the same design issues most of the USA tartans do.

I'm assuming it's flag-based? Always difficult to come up with an attractive tartan when the designer is restricted to a non-tartan colour scheme. (Not impossible, just difficult.)

Here's an example of a flag-based tartan, the Declaration tartan, that I think is successful. Now I haven't seen it in person, and I usually don't care for colour-schemes like this, but for whatever reason I like it. It's a tartan anyone can wear, I assume. (I do wonder how much of that tartan was ever sold.)



There are a zillion "fashion" tartans being designed and woven and worn in Scotland all the time, mainly for the Kilt Hire industry. Add to that all the district etc tartans.

McCalls in Scotland has designed and woven a load of tartans called "pride" this and that:

https://www.mccalls.co.uk/the-pride-...ide-cloth.html

As people are saying many of these aren't all that attractive and will come and go quickly.

Isle Of Skye seems to be here to stay, very popular when it first appeared and still popular.

I think one of the most successful recent designs is Scottish Wildcat. It's amazing.

Anyhow here's Isle Of Skye

[McMurdo]

As people are saying many of these aren't all that attractive and will come and go quickly.

Isle Of Skye seems to be here to stay, very popular when it first appeared and still popular.

I think one of the most successful recent designs is Scottish Wildcat. It's amazing.

The Isle of Skye tartan got a huge boost when the Queen wore it to the opening of Holyrood in I think 1997. I would love to get some Scottish Wildcat Tartan in a Royal's hands, but I am so very proud that my design is being mentioned with Isle of Skye as the subtlety of that tartan was a huge influence on the design it is a favourite tartan of mine.

[WillowEstate]

Yikes that suffers from the same design issues most of the USA tartans do.

I'm assuming it's flag-based? Always difficult to come up with an attractive tartan when the designer is restricted to a non-tartan colour scheme. (Not impossible, just difficult.)

Yes, it is, indeed flag based:



The shades of the blue and red don't really lend themselves to a tartan design, at least to my mind. Perhaps rather more emphasis on the yellow would have helped. I suggested only in relationship to the OPs original question. But each to his own.

[OC Richard]

The Isle of Skye tartan got a huge boost when the Queen wore it to the opening of Holyrood in I think 1997.

Cool, I didn't know that.

All I know is that it became the "elevator music" of the tartan world- they were weaving it in silk and making wedding dresses out of it, making ribbons and bunting to decorate wedding receptions, pillows, travel rugs, carpets, who knows what all. In other words it went far beyond kilting cloth.

I would love to get some Scottish Wildcat Tartan in a Royal's hands

That would be awesome! It sounds like the sort of cause that a Royal might get interested in, Charles in particular. I wonder... if a top-quality kilt in Scottish Wildcat tartan would be given to Charles, with a letter explaining its purpose, might he wear it?

I am so very proud that my design is being mentioned with Isle of Skye as the subtlety of that tartan was a huge influence on the design it is a favourite tartan of mine.

That's the first thing that struck me when I first saw Isle Of Skye, and when I first saw Scottish Wildcat: the wonderful subtlety.

It's my opinion that successful/effective subtlety is perhaps the most difficult thing to do well, in the world of design.

(Unsuccessful ineffective subtlety is mere blandness, and might be no more difficult to achieve than garishness.)

Isle Of Skye has both the subtlety of using three different shades of green, and the boldness of juxtaposing brown and purple, which blend at distance in a lovely way. These things can't be achieved if one is limited to the colours of a flag, or a county crest, or what have you. Clothing-fabric and flags have very different purposes.

[jumary]

Yikes that suffers from the same design issues most of the USA tartans do.

I really like the look of your Isle of Skye kilt and tweed jacket. Can you tell me if you are wearing a belt? It does not appear that you are wearing a vest. Thanks.

[OC Richard]

I really like the look of your Isle of Skye kilt and tweed jacket.

Thanks! It's an old jacket I got on Ebay. Tweed kilt jackets my size come up rarely, one every two or three years.

Can you tell me if you are wearing a belt? It does not appear that you are wearing a vest.

I'm wearing neither. It comes from two things

1) over my 40+ years of piping I've pared down my kit to the essentials. I usually don't wear a sgian, kiltpin, belt, or waistcoat/vest.

2) due to my avoirdupois I avoid adding extra bulk around my middle.

[DragonCeltic]

Hi to all, excuse my English
I live in Scotland and I am Italian, in Italy it is said that Bonnie Prince Charlie, before dying in the Vatican, gave the Italians permission to wear the royal stewart tartan

This story tells at school, online blogs and even Wikipedia


Some say that at that time Bonnie Prince Charlie extended the possibility only to the kingdom of Sardinia, (and now being Sardinian Italian to all Italians)

Now I would like to know is it true? Some Kiltmakers in Scotland know this story, but they can not tell me if it's true
can you help me? I would like to wear it for the baptism of my son William

Greetings