Clan Tartan Appropriateness

[OC Richard]

About the wearing of military items, my grandfather was in the Army, 1st Division, from 1913 until he was discharged in 1918 following a long hospitalisation for severe wounds suffered in the battle of Chantigny. I would never dream of wearing his Silver Star, or Purple Heart, or Croix de Guerre, or 1st Division insignia, to honour his memory: those things are to him alone.

About clan tartans, the more I've read about the origins of the specific clan tartans in use today the less seriously I take them. Some have a more or less legitimate pedigree, appearing under their clan name in early books; others were originally known only by a number in the early pattern books; others were invented by the Allen brothers; others were devised for the military.

It's amazing to hear people talk of their "ancient traditional clan tartan" supposedly worn since the Dawn of Time, when the tartan in question was devised by two Englishmen as part of a deliberate hoax, or was originally a mere fashion tartan.

I avoid all that nonsense and wear Isle of Skye.