PLAID!
For me, plaid oozes style, character and charm! I love it in moderation or in full force! It’s one of the most widespread, recognisable and ubiquitous designs in the world, coming in almost every colour and design under the sun. Plaid has meant a lot of different things to many different people during the thousands of years that people have been using this iconic fabric.
Technically, plaid isn’t the pattern’s proper name. That honor goes to the word “tartan,” which was first used to describe the individual colors and patterns used to decorate the clothes of different Scottish clans. While they often came in the same colors, “plaids” were actually heavy traveling cloaks worn to ward off the bitter cold of the Scottish winters. Plaid only replaced tartan once the patterns became popular with British and American textile manufacturers who would recreate fabrics that looked like tartans, but without centuries of symbolic meaning embedded in their clothing.
“If you lived in a remote land, you would buy your woven cloth from the same weaver,” says Scottish Tartans Authority’s Brian Wilton. “And the weaver would not be reproducing a choice of patterns, but a standard pattern using the colors available to him, many of which were vegetable dyes.” Over time, these local patterns became synonymous with the regional clans scattered throughout Scotland.
During the 18th century, tartan was co-opted from Scottish family symbol to military uniform under James Francis Edward Stuart’s 1714 rebellion against the English monarchy. At the time, a pattern now known as “Black Watch Plaid” became associated with the Royal Highland Regiment, a Scottish military force that remained the pride of the United Kingdom’s army until it was disbanded in 2003.
In recent years, however, plaid has had such a strong resurgence that in some places you would be hard-pressed to look around without seeing it used. From fashion (From classic Burberry to the tartans of Vivienne Westwood) and to interiors (in upholstery, drapery and even carpet by the likes of Ralph Lauren Home) plaid plays makes a wonderful statement. In my opinion, whatever the color and context, plaid is a pattern that may never go out of style.
Currently, I am hand designing my own range of plaids! It’s proving to be extremely satisfying. Cant wait to share the results very soon!
