Why isn't blue more popular for tweed?

[OC Richard]

I do see dark blues being worn quite a bit though...

For sure there's been a recent darkening of the palette.

In the "traditional Highland Dress" which remained remarkably stable from the 1920s through the 1960s the vast majority of tweeds seen with Highland jackets were on the lighter side: Lovat blue, Lovat green, fawn, mid-to-light browns, mid-to-light greys.

But now we see many dark offerings from the major makers.

I just checked Lochcarron's tweed jacket offerings, none are light, two are medium (Lovat and olive green), and four are dark (dark blue, dark brown, dark green, and dark grey).

St Kilda's off-the-peg offerings are light grey, dark grey, and dark blue.

House Of Edgar shows more tweeds and less emphasis on the dark ones, in the lighter tones they offer Lovat, moss, russett, in the mid tones darkish grey and mid-blue, in the dark tones dark blue and deep brown ("peat").

Here in the USA I just checked USA Kilts offerings; off-the-peg they offer only a mid-green and mid-dark blue. Of the tweed jackets you can order there are 5 mid-toned tweeds and 22 dark ones shown.

One thing about pairing tweed jackets and kilts: to coordinate well it looks better if the jacket and kilt contrast in tone as well as in hue. I think that's why tweeds in the mid-to-light range have long been popular: they contrast in tone with dark "modern" tartan kilts. Once again matching is the enemy of coordinating.