So... which plaid is which?

[OC Richard]

This is always a confusing topic for people, mainly because

1) there are three different sorts of traditional plaid (not counting the Laird's Plaid and the entirely modern so-called "fly plaid" both of which are merely a big piece of cloth with no tailoring or construction)

2) there are several terms which are used loosely by many people, so that one term will often be used for two or three distinct sorts of plaids, and sometimes even for things that aren't plaids at all.

For things to make sense you have to know a bit of history.

Originally, before tailored kilts, there was the ancient kilt, just a huge piece of fabric wrapped around the body at the waist and tied to one shoulder by a ribbon, or pinned.

In Gaelic breac means patterned (striped, spotted, etc) and so this original kilt was called breacan-an-feileadh more or less "folded patterned thing".

Then the modern kilt came along, ending and the waist with stitched pleats, so to differentiate this new thing they called it the feileadh-beag "small folded thing" or 'phillabeg' or 'little kilt' when writing in English.

This led to the backformation term feileadh-mor "big folded thing" or 'phillamore' or 'great kilt' when writing in English. But...here's where some of the confusion starts...it was also called 'belted plaid' in English.

So when the upper half of the phillamore was cut off (c1800) that length could be wrapped around the body. It could be loosely wrapped, but as the Victorian period progressed it came to be wrapped more neatly and tightly. Both ends were fringed.

This thing, which in Victorian times was called the "long plaid", was very popular with civilians and in the army was worn by officers in trews (people didn't ride horses in kilts) and sometimes by officers and certain sergeants with kilts. It was also worn by pipers. Nowadays people have forgot that pipers made up a tiny minority of people who wore the long plaid and have dubbed the long plaid a "pipers plaid".

The second thing that happened when the top half of the phillamore got detached (c1800) was that a desire arose to artificially create something of the look of the old phillamore, that big amount of cloth gathered around the waist and tied with a ribbon or pinned to the shoulder.

Thus the "small plaid" or "belted plaid" was born. (I warned you.) In Victorian times it was very popular with civilians and in the army, where it was worn by all ranks regardless of duty from private riflemen up to Generals.

The belted plaid as made for civilians and army officers was a complex multi-piece tailored garment. It had a triangular tab that went through the left epaulette and was pinned with a plaid brooch, and a cloth self-belt that went round the waist under the jacket or waistcoat. It had purled fringe all around.

A simpler version of the belted plaid was used by enlisted men in the kilted Highland regiments, a single piece of tartan, not fringed, with a ribbon that went around the waist and a pair of ribbons (or cloth loop) to attach to the left epaulette. It usually had a small rosette of ribbon at the top tip near the attachment ribbon.

Though this simpler small-plaid had a belt of ribbon it came to be called a "fly plaid" for some reason. It was worn by all enlisted men, the riflemen in the ranks and the pioneers and yes the drummers too.

Though drummers made up a tiny minority of the men in a regiment who wore these, nowadays it's generally called a "drummers plaid".

This military "fly plaid" is not to be confused with the modern cheap kilt-hire "nappy", just a piece of cloth with non-purled fringe, which just hangs loose from the shoulder (not included in the collage).