Quote Originally Posted by ShaunMaxwell View Post
Here's an old one of my wife wearing a Texas Bluebonnet tartan sash casually at the San Antonio games... Apologies to Tobus if this is the "Miss America" style he mentioned.

OK, so now I feel like I've pretty much "stepped in it". I hope no offense has been taken where none was intended.

Shaun, I think it still has an imaginative and somewhat free-flowing look, the way she's wearing it. I like that she used a simple knot or wrap-over at the bottom, and the top has a sort of 'draped' form. It looks like she's wearing it comfortably and, for lack of a better word, naturally. For some reason, I always think tartan looks better when it's allowed to drape. I suppose it allows the pattern to be broken up a little bit (the straight lines formed into natural curves, interacting with each other), making it more visually interesting. Complexity, I suppose, would be the concept.

Whilst kilts are necessarily worn with the tartan hanging straight down, making curved "drape" impossible, I always enjoy seeing sashes, plaids, shawls, scarves, and other upper-body tartan accessories take a more flowing form. Especially when worn on the female figure, which is well suited to curves and such. That's purely my own aesthetic preference, though, and has nothing whatsoever to do with what's "correct" vis-a-vis tradition.

The same is true, Kyle, of your great-aunt in the dancing photos. In the picture showing her right side, see how the tartan pattern "flows" down her back? How lovely is that? She looks for all the world like she's been wearing it comfortably and naturally all her life (which perhaps she has!). I really think that this free-flowing look displays the simple beauty of tartan at its finest.



Now this isn't to say that wearing it in a more straight-line folded fashion, and pinned together at the bottom, isn't "correct" or traditional. Your wife, Kyle, looks absolutely lovely in the photos, and indeed you should be proud to have her on your arm. But do you see what I'm saying about how much more interesting and natural a tartan sash can look when it's allowed to drape and flow?

I hope this is all taken in the spirit in which it was intended, viz., interesting conversation and food for thought.