Dress tartans

[davedove]

90% of men who come into our shop like the DARK tartans (gordon Mod, BW, MacLean Hntg, MacDonald, etc)... only a select few like the bright colored ones.

I'm much the same way. I like my bright red MacIan tartan when I'm dressing formal, or just wanting to make a statement. However, for more everyday wear, I much prefer to bit a bit more subdued. The dress tartans with a lot of white would be too flashy for most occasions.

[sirdaniel1975]

Some tartans appear to be dress tartans and are not. Probably the most popular is MacPherson Hunting. Chief, MacPherson of Cluny in RR McIans print is wearing MacPherson dress (circa 1845).



MacPherson Hunting



MacPherson Dress top and Hunting on bottom.



I'm glad that this post has remained so democratic. Take a closer look next time you think you see a dress tartan, It might be something such as MacPherson Hunting.

[Andrewson]

I don't know why white should have the emotional impact that it does but I do know that I hummed and hawed and hestitated a long time before ordering my Glasgow University tartan 8yder just because it had a strong white component and I was convinced that it would look too much like a dress tartan:



Now I don't know why I hesitated. I wear it often and have had many compliments on it.

[Robin]

My question was not about nice/not nice...just wanted to know what's common practise with dress tartans...

On the MacLaren clan society website it says:

"The Dress tartan is mainly prefered by Ladies for evening wear."

I just don't know what's common practise...I don't want to judge anyone who wears a dress tartan...let alone those who wear other tartans with lots of white in it.
Personal taste is not an issue and when a clan has large chunks of white in their tartan...sure it goes without saying the clanmembers wear it with pride...we don't pick our clan tartans...they're there if we like it or not.

No need to defend "your" tartan.

It's a question...not a judgement

[Pour1Malt]

here is the Robertson Dress Tartan...

ai cannae say ai think much o' it...

[Livingston]

Mine seems to have a dirty white or light grey. Might just have to go for it sometime.

[Robin]

MacLaren Dress ITI 649 (picture from the society website)

There's also a MacLaren Albino (dance) ITI 5687...listed as "Fancy Dance".
This tartan is not on the society website, so I guess it's not recognised by the clan Chief.

The odd MacLaren "ancient 1819" from House of Edgar is also unofficial. No ITI number either.

[beloitpiper]

I've yet to see a piper in a dress tartan, though I'm sure they're out there. I don't care for them as much, but that's just my opinion. In the photo above the guy seems to be in exactly the situation where a dress tartan is appropriate. Still, off-white hose for formal wear bugs me. Especially with white.

I wear the Dress Gordon when I pipe.


I prefer it to the Gordon modern or hunting.

[sirdaniel1975]

Mine seems to have a dirty white or light grey. Might just have to go for it sometime.

Livingston

index: BWK:YKW

thread count:

B133, W16, K8, W8, K2, Y4, K2, W54, K8, W8, K16, W8, K16, W16, K2, Y12

B = blue
W = white
K = black
Y =yellow

Probably as the white and black threads pass thru or by each other, is causing the grey-ish look.

[MacWage]

The dress tartans are a product and victim of the changing tastes on colors and prefernces in the general public. The "historical" arguement/claim is a relation to the arisaid (sp?-being lazy and not looking up), but I have questions about the relation.

In short, they come largely from a time when white was very popular and there was an effort to "brighten up" the otherwise "drab" and "dark" tartans, usually the black watch based ones such as Gordon and MacNeil (yes, Macneil IS black watched based, regardless of what arguements I've faced in the past). Others were called "dress" because they were simply BRIGHT. At one time (source forgotten, though Newsome could cite or debunk the following), there was the arguement that kilts were hunting atire and a bright tartan would be un-usable on a hunt (though deer -the main target- is COLORBLIND), as would bright silver work. Correspondingly, bright tartans must have been for dressier occasions, like dinners. Therefore dark patterns were called "hunting" and bright became "dress." Bright red tartans had a hunting version created and dark ones had a brighter version created. An example of the divide is the MacLeod tartans: what used to be Hunting MacLeod and Dress MacLeod is now MacLeod of Harris and MacLeod of Lewis.

Over time, tastes changed and people prefered non-white tartans, so the tie to the arisaid was made and the dress tartans were dismissed as "women's wear," though some were based on old, old portraits or fragments as men's kilts (or belted plaids). As "dress" tartans fell out of favor, popular ones (like the Dress MacLeod), were name changed to another non-dress one. The BRIGHT yellow MacLeod was then, and now, termed "Loud MacLeod" as neither dress or the place names were historical, decriptive, or of much value for accuracy (as much of the Macleod heart was on NEITHER island). Even in recent years, this attitude has remained, which is reflected by J. Charles Thompson. As Thompson DESIGNED the Dress Thompson (form what I remember), he puposefully avioded the white and used a non-white base.

Now, white is popular again, so the dress tartans are being revived.

As for me, one of my belted plaids that will REMAIN belted plaids is a Dress Gordon, that looks striking when worn with (waist) coat and tie. It was my second or third belted plaid ever and bought because of a family tie (Todd, my father's mother's maiden name AND my wife's mother's maiden name, is considered a sept of Clan Gordon-though I've seen no historical evidence for the connection besides clan sept lists) I like it as a more formal tartan, BUT am planning to get a modern Gordon for a sewn kilt.

I hope this helps with the question at hand!