Author(s): IAIN ZACZEK

Fashion

All over the world, tartan is immediately recognized as a symbol of the Scottish people and their culture. It is glamorous, colourful and instantly conjures up a romantic set of associations - the sway of the kilt, the skirl of the pipes, and the spectacle of brave Highlanders fighting for freedom against an imperial power. The history of tartan lives up to those expectations. Over the centuries, its fortunes have ebbed and flowed. It has been mocked as the attire of savages too poor to afford trousers; it has been outlawed as the uniform of dangerous rebels; but ultimately it has triumphed, becoming a badge of honour not only for native Scots, but for their descendants and admirers around the globe. Here the brave history of this romantic cloth is examined in detail, covering the span of Scotland's history and the manner in which tartan was enmeshed in her struggle for international independence and cultural identity. The history of Scotland is a long and rich one, and the story of tartan is inextricably woven into it, but tartan is also very much part of the modern world, both as a continuing tradition and as a declaration of affiliation, by Scots all around the globe. In this book is an unprecedented collection of tartans, ancient and modern, traditional and obscure, mainstream and idiosyncratic, from the major clans who have dominated Scotland's destiny, to today's individuals and societies who use tartan to declare an allegiance. From the Bruces to the Katsushika Japanese Dancers, from the chieftains of the medieval period to Neil Armstrong who took his family tartan to the moon, tartan is surely one of the most enduring symbols of national pride and individual honour. It is also a particularly inclusive, infinitely adaptable way of proclaiming that we belong to something, and perhaps it is this that makes it so beloved.