Quote Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome View Post
In the past I have defined "traditional" as relating to the way things have been done "in living memory."

Another way of looking at the difference between "traditional" and "historic" is that traditional fashion is still in fashion. Historic dress is not.

In short:
Traditional = might have elements of past fashion, but still remains a viable fashion today.
Historic = recreates past fashion no longer in current use.
Those work for me!

"Traditional" to me usually implies an unbroken usage from when something first appeared till today. This nearly always means that the thing has undergone a process of gradual evolution of form.


"Historical" to me means that the lineage of usage has been broken at some point in the past. So one can, today, go back and make a replica of the historical thing, but it remains a historical thing for now. If the revived historical thing is used continuously for a few generations it then becomes tradtional once again, I suppose.

For Highland Dress, "traditional" for me means the sorts of dress worn from around the 1920's through the 1950's. In another sense it's in the eye of the beholder and relative.