A STARZ Original Series From Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore: Outlander

[figheadair]

I've come somewhat late to this thread but.......

Despite the fact that Outlander is purely and quite obviously a work of fiction, hopefully, the attention to detail is present. I am curious what the rabble thinks.

Lead characters, Claire Randall Fraser (played by Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie Fraser (played by Sam Heughan)

Photo used with kind permission by STARZ.

Fell at the first tartan hurdle I'm afraid. Not only is the tartan historically inaccurate but the plaid is made from double width cloth with an unfinished edge rather than a selvedge. Cheap and cheerful but oh so wrong.

Yet, I think the Fraser tartan in the reproduction colours achieves that look quite well.

But of course they are historically inaccurate too - a D.C. Dalgliesh invention.

The man's tartan looks to me very much like the the MacKay Reproduction as woven by D.C.Dalgliesh.

It's a new design which has just come to the STR Advisory Group for comment as part of the Registration process. A classic example of cart before horse - what will they do if we reject it!

Regarding earlier questions about the tartan being worn, and Fraser or MacKenzie:
From my reading of the history of tartan, I seem to recall that most agree that before the Ban on wearing of tartan, after Culloden, there were no such thing as uniform "clan tartans", that most Scots, in the Highlands, wore mostly whatever the local weavers wove. Most of those tartans were also made with locally available dyestuffs ( probably mostly plant based dyes). I also seem to recall that what few written accounts were made, commented upon the tartans as also blending in with the local plants, and thus acting as a form of camouflage.

Without going completely off topic, this is not the case. Tartan per se was never banned and all the surviving examples of Culloden era tartans are dyed with imported dyestuffs. The camouflage idea is very much a Victorian myth and not borne out by evidence or tactical practicalities.

Whilst it would be inaccurate as you say for them to have used the post 1820s "clan tartans", I believe that tartans of the period were probably rather more colourful than those used in Outlander. The painting below was painted in 1746 by D. Morier and he used prisoners from Culloden as his models. None of the tartans are identifiable with modern tartans, but they are decidedly bright and contain a lot of red.

culloden-illustration-460.jpg

Absolutely right, certainly as far as the gentry were concerned. Red was a status symbol which is why so many chose to be painted in it.

I have read on different occasions, that the English army used red coates because the red dye was cheap.

Not really. The choice of colour was about uniformity and being able to identify your side form the opposition in the midst of a black powder engagement when visibility was very poor. The French, the old enemy, wore blue so the British chose another colour that would stand out. The red of the soldiers' coats was dyed with Madder, the officers' with cochineal which was the most expensive natural dye of the time.