Tartan colours Modern Ancient Weathered Muted

[OC Richard]

The Forsyth's catalogue, or at least my copy, is date 1907, not 1909. It includes several tartans such as Gordon (Ancient) and MacDougal (Ancient) but these are references to older setts and not colouring.

What about the 1907 Leckie Graham catalogue listing of Silk Tartan Windsor Scarves?

They list around 130 tartans, including

Gordon, Gordon (Ancient), Gordon (Dress)

Munro, Munro (Ancient)

Stewart (Royal), Stewart (Dress), Stewart (Hunting), Stewart (Ancient)

Under the kilting fabrics (Fine Saxony and Heavy Saxony) none are listed as "ancient".

For Gordon there's just the one, no Munro tartan at all, and for Stewart just Royal Stewart, Hunting Stewart, and "Victoria or Dress Stewart".

How would we know if the "ancient" Gordon, Munro, and Stewart are different setts, or different colours?

Seems to me that silk scarves would be more fashion-conscious than kilting fabric, and more prone to offer different colours.

I wonder if the basis of the Old/Ancient colours may have been influenced by some of the earlier printed works...at least one book of that period had watercolour plates in which the shades were much lighter in comparison with those of the VS. Here's a plate from Coats of Arms, Crests, Clan Tartans &c. by John Whyte, Edinburgh, 1845 which look very like what we now think of as Old/Ancient Colours.

Very interesting!!

Lochcarron's Weathered Colours were introduced in the 1970s as far as I know.

(House of Edgar's Muted Colours) at some point in the late 1970s/early 1980s I believe.

I wonder if there's anyone around either firm who might remember the specific years these were introduced.

Returning to the older settings is one of the underlining features of much of my work.

It's been fantastic! I'd love it to go further, a mill committing to offering a substantial range of Clan Tartans in reconstructed Wilsons colours and proportions.

I think their inherent superiority would lead to success. If some Pipe Bands would get on board, a single band nowadays might need 50 kilts as an initial order (the size of Pipe Bands has massively increased over the last 20 years).