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Tartan Colors
Advice for Kilt Wearers
Did the Belted Plaid Have a
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William Muirhead Kilt
OTHER SCOTTISH
Robert the Bruce
Alexander Cuming
The Scots-Irish Migration to Western
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Scottish Medieval Performing Class
Scottish Saints
The Trump (Jews Harp)
The Lost Tribes of Isreal?
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Click here to return to the
archive of articles I have written for the Scottish Banner.
Which Tartan Is
Mine?
©2005 Matthew A. C. Newsome, FSA
Scot, GTS
published in the Scottish
Banner, July 2005
I’ve seen it many times. Someone at a Highland Games finds out that they have
Scottish ancestors. They rush to the nearest vendor to look for the tartan
that tradition and genetics supposedly dictate they wear. But instead of
finding just one tartan labeled with their name, they encounter some
half-dozen to choose from, with names like ancient, weathered, dress and
hunting. Confused and somewhat frustrated, they desperately ask, “Which one is
mine?”
First of all, as I have stated before, you may choose to wear any tartan you
like. There are no “tartan police” that will ticket you for wearing the wrong
tartan. That being said, the names we call our tartans tend to give erroneous
impressions. It’s important to know what they really mean. Let’s begin with
the one that creates the most misconceptions, the term “ancient.”
Most people assume the ancient tartans are simply older tartans. While this
sounds right, it is entirely incorrect. An ancient tartan is not a different,
older tartan, but the same tartan woven in lighter hues. One very important
principle to realize is that a specific hue is rarely called for in a tartan.
A red and green tartan can be produced in any shade of red and green and
remain the same tartan. Exact shades of colors could never be regulated, as it
would be impossible for different manufacturers to perfectly match dyes time
and time again. The Robertson tartan from Lochcarron, Ingles Buchan, and
Strathmore woolen mills will all look a bit different because each mill has
its own color pallet. If you change a color entirely, say from a red to a
blue, then you have a different tartan. But you can change one shade of red
for another and the tartan remains the same.
So it should not be surprising that tartan manufacturers would offer different
color schemes in order to increase the variety of tartans. Sometime shortly
after WWII, the “ancient” color scheme was introduced. Tartans in these colors
are much lighter in hue, with navy faded to a light blue, red faded to orange,
and so forth. Many today assume that these shades are meant to reflect the
colors available before aniline dyes were introduced in the mid-nineteenth
century. But it is a farce to suggest that prior to 150 years ago people wore
orange instead of red, and that dyers were incapable of producing dark blues
and greens. Weavers certainly were able to offer rich and dark colors from
vegetable dyes. What the ancient colors are supposed to represent is what a
tartan might look like after years of fading. It is like the fashion of “stone
washed” jeans. You purchase them new already looking old and worn. Whether or
not the so-called ancient colors accurately reflect what old and worn tartans
look like is another matter, but such is the intent.
Then what of the modern color scheme? The modern colors are only called
“modern” to difference them from the “ancient” colors. Some in the tartan
industry more accurately call them “standard” or “regular” colors, which is
exactly what they are. But the name “modern” remains the most commonly used
identifier. Suffice to say, if someone 200 years ago were to purchase a length
of tartan material, fresh off the loom, it would look more like today’s modern
colors than anything else.
Next we have the weathered colors. The idea behind these colors is to
reproduce what a tartan might look like if buried in a peat bog for a few
centuries. The colors are very washed out, with blue faded to grey, green to
brown and so on. Again, whether or not this accurately depicts such artifact
tartans is questionable.
These are the most commonly used terms for tartan color schemes, but not the
only ones. Different mills will produce muted, reproduction, antique and other
colors, all based on the same idea as the ancient and weathered tartans – to
produce a new tartan that already looks old. But no matter what colors scheme
is used, it is still the same tartan. Someone may look at a clan like
Armstrong and say, “They have three tartans, the ancient, modern and
weathered,” but this would be incorrect. There is, in fact, only one Armstrong
tartan, available in different hues.
The same is not true of other tartan variations, such as hunting and dress.
These names refer to different tartans entirely. Generally, a hunting tartan
is one that contains more earth-tones. When a tartan is primarily a bright
color, such as red, it is very common to have an alternate tartan based in
green, blue, brown, or some combination thereof. Sometimes the hunting tartan
is created by a simple color change, such Hamilton. Other times these tartans
are entirely different designs, as is the case with the Robertsons. Tartans
that are already in these colors (like Campbell or MacKenzie) do not have
hunting versions.
Dress tartans take their inspiration from eighteenth century women’s arisaides,
which were normally woven with a white or light colored ground. So a dress
tartan is usually created by substituting one of the primary colors of the
tartan with white, or adding white into the design. An example would be dress
MacDonald. Sometimes the dress tartan may be an entirely different design, as
is the case with dress MacPherson.
The most important thing to point out, however, is that names like “hunting”
and “dress” do not denote actual usage. It is not as if the Highlander of old
went deer stalking in his hunting tartan, and then came home and changed into
his dress tartan before having tea with the provost. You may feel free to wear
a hunting tartan to a formal occasion (or a dress tartan while hunting, for
that matter).
As if all of that were not confusing enough, we also have “old” tartans. A
tartan is called old if it is thought to pre-date the standard tartan, though
this is not always accurate. The Old Stewart tartan dates back to 1819, but
there are other Stewart tartans that pre-date this. Nevertheless, these are
actually different tartans, and not merely a change in color scheme like the
“ancient” tartans.
Lastly, if a tartan is designated “of” something, it usually means it is meant
for a particular branch of a clan or family. The Stewart of Atholl tartan is
meant to represent that branch of the Stewarts. One would normally only choose
to wear a branch tartan is one felt that he or she was related to that
particular branch.
Now, all of the above is accurate most of the time, but not universally. There
are exceptions to every rule. For instance, before the ancient color scheme
became popular, older tartans were often called “ancient.” A reference in 1880
to an Ancient Gordon tartan does not mean the normal Gordon in lighter colors,
but what we would call today the Old Gordon in modern colors. Some mills, like
Strathmore, call the ancient colors “old” and still use “ancient” to refer to
older patterns. So “Ancient Stewart, old colors” from Strathmore will be the
same tartan that Lochcarron calls “Old Stewart, ancient colors.”
Some dress tartans are not white, like the yellow Dress MacLeod, which is also
called MacLeod of Lewis. The MacLeod hunting tartan is also called MacLeod of
Harris. The Hunting MacPherson has no green, and is primarily grey. What is
commonly called Dress Fraser is simply the standard red clan tartan. What some
people call Old MacLachlan is called Hunting MacLachlan by others. The MacLean
of Duart tartan is not a branch tartan, but the standard tartan for the clan,
whose seat is located at Duart.
There are exceptions to every rule. This is why it is important, if there is
ever any doubt as to which tartan you will get from your supplier, to request
a sample before ordering. But now you should be able to put these tartan names
in context. Remember that the standard clan tartan, woven in the modern
colors, is never a wrong choice. Apart from that, wear whichever tartan
catches your fancy and don’t get preoccupied with the nomenclature.
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