Tartan is cloth woven with coloured stripes crossing at right angles to form a repeating pattern, called a sett. It is genuinely old as a textile — fragments have been found in Scotland dating back around 1,700 years — and considerably younger as a system of family identification.
The Victorian invention
This is the part that surprises people. Before the eighteenth century, tartan patterns varied by region rather than by family, for the practical reason that local weavers used whatever dyes were available from local plants. People in an area wore similar cloth because they bought it from the same weaver.
The idea that each clan has its own hereditary tartan was largely assembled in the nineteenth century, and two events drove it:
- George IV’s visit to Edinburgh in 1822, stage-managed by Sir Walter Scott, at which clan chiefs were asked to attend in their “clan tartan” — obliging a good many of them to invent one at short notice.
- Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s enthusiasm for Balmoral and all things Highland, which made tartan enormously fashionable across Britain.
The Sobieski Stuarts
The most extraordinary chapter. Two brothers calling themselves John and Charles Sobieski Stuart, claiming descent from Bonnie Prince Charlie, published the Vestiarium Scoticum in 1842 — a supposedly ancient manuscript setting out the tartans of the clans.
It was a forgery, and was shown to be one. A number of the tartans it invented were nonetheless adopted and are still worn as authentic clan setts today.
The ban
After the Jacobite defeat at Culloden in 1746, the Dress Act prohibited Highland dress for civilians, with transportation for a second offence — part of a deliberate dismantling of clan society. It lasted 36 years, and by its repeal in 1782 the cloth had been thoroughly romanticised.
The register
Since 2008 the Scottish Register of Tartans, maintained by National Records of Scotland, has been the official record. It holds several thousand designs and anyone may register a new one for a fee — organisations, companies, districts, charities and individuals all do.
There are tartans for the RAF, for Canadian provinces, for Japanese companies, for the state of Texas, and for a great many things with no Scottish connection whatsoever.
Reading the names
Most clan tartans exist in several versions, and the labels are worth knowing:
- Modern — bright colours, from chemical dyes.
- Ancient — lighter shades, meant to suggest older vegetable dyes.
- Weathered or muted — as though faded by age and exposure.
- Dress — with added white, for formal wear.
- Hunting — greens and browns, for the field.
Who may wear what
There is no law restricting tartan, and no enforcement of any kind. Anyone may wear any tartan they like.
The etiquette is softer: claiming a clan connection you do not have is considered a bit much, but wearing a district tartan, a universal one such as Black Watch, or simply one you like is entirely unremarkable. The Scottish position on this is far more relaxed than visitors expect.
Plaid
A word of warning. In America plaid means the pattern. In Scotland a plaid is a garment — the long length of cloth worn over the shoulder — and using it for the pattern will be gently corrected.