All in the (Robertson) Family (the tartan, not the TV comedy)

[OC Richard]

The concept of clan tartans was introduced by the Highland Society of London in 1815 as part of their attempt to preserve elements of Highland culture, including piping and the Gaelic language, that were being lost.

The fact that there had never been clan tartans was overlooked in the rush to 'do something' before it was too late.

It's interesting, how being determined to preserve elements of a culture that they didn't know much about led to the 'preserving' of things that had never existed.

The same thing happened with piping. They set up piping competitions which were judged by gentlemen with almost no knowledge of the music of the Highland pipes.

This incident reveals much. In 1816 one of the pipers competing showed the judges

...a folio volume in manuscript, said to contain numerous compositions; but the contents merely resembling a written narrative in an unknown language, nor bearing any resemblance to Gaelic, they proved utterly unintelligible.

Amidst many conjectures relative both to the subject and the language, nobody adventured so far as to guess at either airs or pibrochs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCHR...&start_radio=1

[jsrnephdoc]

To be fair there’s been over 200 years to cement the tradition of clan tartans whether it had a historical basis or not.

As long as people don’t get too religious about it I don’t see the harm. I think the real problem comes from people scolding others about the importance of clan tartan or salesmen at games taking advantage of the ignorant with fanciful/romantic stories. You know what they say, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! ;)

When I purchased my first kilt a decade ago (at Wm Glen & Son in San Francisco), my encounter with the store, off the tony Union Square shopping district was entirely accidental. I owned Argyll and Prince Charlie jackets I'd inherited from my dad upon his death a decade earlier, but they'd languished in my closet because he was much taller AND larger amidships than I. Yes, I had Robertson Red and Hunting tartan neckties, and had inherited a few books on tartan and Burns poem anthologies, but I knew almost nothing about the actually lineage of my family name or the history of tartan or even the history of Scotland (I'd been to the Edinburgh Castle Museum in 2002, but there I'd gotten the impression that the Scots still harbored a belief that they just needed one more shot with their Claymores, Dirks, and Sgian Dubhs against "the English" and they'd rectify their unjust subjugation. Jock has certainly helped rectify that misperception.


I love the Robertson Ancient Hunting tartan kilt I purchased there back in 2016, but it's now MUCH too large, thanks to the Ozempic that's vanquished my diabetes. As the thread starter mentions, I've never been a fan of the "too much RED," Robertson Red (modern) tartan woven by almost all the major mills, but I remembered looking at many swatch books when I bought my kilt, so yesterday, back in CA for a visit with friends, we went in to the shop to think about which mill might interpose that bordered white stripe in a custom weave of the Robertson Red (white line) that I THINK I like based on looking at "electronic" swatches.


The exterior of the shop hasn't changed, but inside it's DRAMATICALLY different. Highlands Wear CLEARLY is no longer their business. Yes, there are a few Argylls and PCs languishing on coat hangers, and, yes, they still have a few swatch books from major mills. But 80% (or more) of the display space is now devoted to whisky, whiskeys, and other distilled spirits. The staff no longer wear kilts. Their KNOWLEDGE of highlands wear is meager even in comparison to my own fragmentary comprehension.


But, if whisky is what you seek, they're your guys.

[SF Jeff]

Too bad about Wm Glen. I bought my first kilt from them and I used to sort of hangout there, as I worked a few blocks away on Montgomery and would sometimes take a long lunch and browse the store. They carried a wide variety of goods back then and highland wear took up a lot of floor and wall space. They also had a sizeable kilt rental business and did alterations and repairs.

The whisky shop was in a small room in the back that had a sliding glass door separating it from the main store. It was run by someone else who I think just rented the space and it was not part of Wm Glen proper. They had tastings every weekend if I recall, but I was in the city M-F only so I never went to one.

I haven't been there in ages but it sounds like it's on the decline perhaps? Their website has a fair selection of items, so maybe the bulk of their business is done online now.