The arisaid and other women's tartan clothing

[figheadair]

I have a mind to turn my attention to the arisaid and other traditional uses of tartan by women. There is a fair amount about it circulating on the web, much of it rubbish, and I think it would be an interesting exercise to try and capture what we know and can deduce from the available evidence.

Take for example this image which is cited as a Culloden era example of a woman wearing an arisaid (James Basire c1745).



Basire lived 1730-1802 and it seems very unlikley that he published this engraving at age 15!