My family couldn’t afford to deck me out in the full Highland attire — and to be frank, I was not good enough to justify such an expense — so whenever I had an A&P show to attend, or a competition or exam, I had to borrow another girl’s kilt, blouse, woollen stockings and waistcoat.
I would gaze down at the rich, colourful knit, wondering which clan’s tartan I was wearing as I hopped, skipped and twirled across the stage.
I fantasised about owning my own Aboyne dress — about the warmth and weight of a red-hued McBain kilt, the softness of a velvet waistcoat, the puffed sleeves of a white blouse. (The itchy woollen stockings, however, I could do without.)
Tartan — in all its myriad incarnations — is a proud and recognisable symbol of Scotland, worn the world over.
It is estimated that more than 5000 variations of tartan exist today and about 135 new designs are added to the official register each year.
Tartan, known in Gaelic as "breacan", is a colourful patterned cloth characterised by intersecting horizontal and vertical stripes of various colours, creating distinctive square and rectangular patterns.
Traditionally woven from wool, modern tartans are also produced using other materials such as cotton, cashmere and polyester.
Outside of Scotland, where tartan originates, it is sometimes known as "plaid" — in Scotland, however, plaid is a large piece of tartan cloth which can be worn several ways.
Tartan is created by weaving pre-dyed woollen threads into bands of colour that alternate in the warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal), usually with a 2/2 twill weave.
If you were to hold a magnifying glass up to this weave, you would see a pattern of short diagonal lines with overlapping colours. Standing back, however, the intricately crossed threads melt together to create beautiful new colours and shades.
The repetition of these horizontal and vertical stripes, coupled with the significance of the colours woven together, creates a unique "sett" which, if you’ll pardon the pun, sets a tartan apart from its peers.
A rich red might represent a warrior’s blood, blue might signify the clan’s loch and green might indicate the forests surrounding the clan’s dwelling.
Before the advent of neon-hued synthetic dyes and the mass production of cheap textiles, the colours in tartan were determined by the dyes available in the area; the plants, berries and minerals that gave the cloth its earthy hues, imbuing the tartan with the essence of the local landscape.
The predominance of certain colours in a tartan might therefore represent a region’s flora and fauna, solidly embedding tartans in the cultural geography of Scotland.
An established tartan’s colour hues may be altered to produce variations on the tartan. The hues might be muted or saturated by varying degrees to produce modern, ancient, muted and weathered variations.
Modern tartans are fully saturated, although setts composed of green, black and blue often appear muted or obscured because of the darkness of the colours.
"Dress" tartans are typically bright and are worn at formal occasions, whereas "hunting" colours are more subdued, suitable for outdoor use. "Weathered" or "muted" tartans are faded, as if exposed to the sunlight for a long time, and "ancient" tartans use natural dyes for an authentic look.
Tartan has something of a chequered history. The first tartans existed long before they were associated with clans.
In Scotland, the oldest known tartan is the Falkirk tartan, dating back to around AD230.
The Falkirk tartan is a simple two-tone design created from undyed wool, and looks rather different from the intricate tartans of the present day.
By the 16th and 17th centuries, tartan had evolved into a symbol of identity in the Scottish Highlands.
Regional weavers organically developed unique setts, influenced by local tastes, which gradually became associated with specific clans.
The significance of tartan grew during the 18th-century Jacobite risings, as Highland clans used it to express loyalty to the Stuart monarchy.
After the Jacobites’ resounding defeat at Culloden in 1746, the British government enacted the Dress Act, banning Highland attire in a bid to suppress clan identity and culture.
Violating the ban risked imprisonment or exile, rendering tartan a symbol of rebellion.
While not all tartan was explicitly prohibited, Highlanders were forced into Lowland dress, severing their daily connection with traditional attire.
The ban’s repeal in 1782 marked a turning point, and tartan saw something of a resurgence.
In 1822, King George IV visited Edinburgh in a resplendent celebration of Scottish (and particularly Highland) culture, orchestrated by the novelist Sir Walter Scott.
Sir Walter encouraged his fellow Scots to wear their clan tartans as a display of loyalty.
Following Culloden, the Highlands, largely depopulated through the Highland Clearances, were reimagined as a romantic, wild and empty hotspot for tourists.
Tartan, mass-produced and disseminated by the British army — now incorporating assimilated Highlanders — became a defining symbol of Scotland’s newly commodified identity.
But tartan is more than kitschy tourist tat — it still holds political power, and as Mhairi Maxwell, a curator at the V&A Dundee said in an interview with the National Geographic, tartan was "always worn to be seen and to be heard— it’s a loud pattern".
Wearing a clan tartan can foster a sense of belonging and pride in one’s heritage, echoing back to the Jacobite rising.
Today, tartans can symbolise almost anything, such as Scottish diaspora identity (Dunedin tartan) or the "Pride of LGBT" tartan, which pays homage to all those who fought for LGBT rights.
The first Māori king, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, set up his own tartan with certain design elements representing his ancestry, much like the whorls and spirals of an individual’s tā moko might indicate their social status, role or genealogy.
This historically significant tartan was presented by his descendant, Tūheitia Paki, to King Charles during a visit to Buckingham Palace in May 2023.
And then there’s the Dunedin tartan, designed to commemorate the first settlers from the Free Church of Scotland who landed at Otago Harbour on March 23, 1848.
The thin white lines symbolise the initial two ships (the Philip Laing and the John Wickliffe); the blue bands represent the vast oceans these hardy souls traversed; the green denotes the fresh landscapes upon which they settled; the gold represents the harvests they cultivated; the red embodies the familial bonds left behind; while the black conveys the sorrow of separation from loved ones.
If I were to design my own, I would start with a deep green to represent the beauty of Aotearoa, the lush uplands of Inverness-shire and the Emerald Isle.
I would have horizontal and vertical strips of royal blue to represent my connection to Glasgow (from the blue of the Saltire) and New Zealand, evoking the oceans.
I might include slight silver threads to honour my distant Jewish ancestry, and a gold band to represent what I value most in the world, my family.
This pattern, and those of my clan tartans, are a bridge between past and present, connecting me to the lands, people and stories that made me.
• Jean Balchin is an ODT columnist who has started a new life in Edinburgh.
