I love my Dress Gordon - don't think its "less than" in any way. Don't think its a "girlie tartan." Think the term dress is just used as a term to describe when a tartan is altered by switching a color to white. No biggie.
I don't think I was implying it was "less" or "girlie". But are you saying that dress tartans were never intended to replace normal tartans for upscale/formal/dressy events? I had always thought that's what they were for, but that they just never caught on for that purpose.