Use of white in a tartan: condemed to look like a "dress tartan"?

[Kinth]

Hi everybody,

I have a question that might interest some people wanting to design their own tartans.

Is there some kind of "traditional" reason why white stripes shouldn't be used in a general tartan? How do you differenciate some general tartan using white (MacFarlane's or Menzie's ones for example) from dress/dance tartan?

Sorry for this noobie question, but I cannot get it clear in my head, each time I'm getting close to an answer, I find one more confusing element on the web...

[David Thorpe]

Overly simplified, white stripes appear in many tartans, while white fields usually indicate a dress or dance tartan.

[madmacs]

Probably something to do with it being brighter... Or getting dirty easier...

Maclean hunting has white stripes...

[KD Burke]

So what if it is a "dress" tartan? If you like it, wear it. Example: "Macdonald Dress Irish"

[Adrian]

The Antarctic and Arctic tartans are district tartans that have quite a lot of white

http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tar...ls.aspx?ref=94

http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tar...s.aspx?ref=107

[Kinth]

Well, the question was because of my tartan design project, I was aiming at designing a general tartan, but my favourite design seems to have too much white... ^^
So I was wondering if there was a way to determine the "right amount" of it, appart from "I like it"... I'd like it to become my family's tartan, so I don't want to end up with something looking weird or being unpractical...
If necessary, after the "original" one, I will have time to think of designing the "dress" version (with more white), the "weathered" version, the "ancient", the "hunt", the...

[Adrian]

Probably not a technical way to determine the right amount, I would probably work on the "if it looks right to me" and "would I and the family be happy wearing it ?"

[creagdhubh]

This is an excellent question for our resident tartan scholar, figheadair. Perhaps he'll respond in due course.

Cheers,

[Llama]

I think that wide fields of white and lots of contrast make it look more like a dress tartan. Try adding a few stripes on the white fields to break up the color or go with an off-white (or a lighter dark-color) to soften the contrast.

[EagleJCS]

I would surmise that the whole concept of a white-based "dress" tartan is a Victorian-era creation intended to allow those of the 'fairer sex' of the day to wear more tartan (perhaps an idea started by the mills?) without seeming too masculine. Thus, the use of so-called 'dress tartans' in arisaids, shawls, etc. Bright bold colors in mostly red, blue and green are still considered largely masculine while the 'softer palette' of pastels and lighter shades are more feminine. (Just look at ads in magazines and billboards.)

KD Burke's MacDonald Dress Irish tartan still appears, to my eye, to still be more red- and black- based, though the red and white may have the same thread counts.

The Dress Scott tartan, however, replaces most of the the red seen in my avatar with white, leaving red in between the green over-check and under the white stripes. Very obviously a white-based tartan.