Actor James McAvoy discusses his choice of tartans

[Monkey@Arms]

This is an article about the Scottish actor, James McAvoy who appeared in the Last King of Scotland.

James McAvoy Wears His Grandfather's Tartan With Pride
By Staff
Feb 27, 2007

Proud Scot James McAvoy has been given a pass to snub his family tartan and wear a different kilt - because his grandfather was a famous Johnston.

The actor is very proud of his heritage and often dons a kilt as a tribute to his forefathers and his native Scotland, but he's happy he no longer has to watch his back when he chooses to wear his grandfather's tartan

The Last King Of Scotland star explains, "Maybe 200 or 300 years ago you'd want to wear the right tartan but now it really doesn't matter.

"I'm a McAvoy, so I should wear a McAvoy tartan but I wear my grandfather's tartan, the Johnston tartan. Nowadays, no clansman will come and behead me for it."

McAvoy admits he loves the tartan look and orders his kilts from website ClanTartans.com, where he also reads up on what patterns and symbols mean.

And he always stays true to kilt tradition when he's wearing one.

He adds, "I don't wear anything under it!"

Best regards,

Jake

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I'm glad James is comfortable in his kilt, and has chosen to wear a tartan to honor his grandfather. Nothing wrong in that at all. But I'm afraid some of his statements are a bit misinformed.

In actuality, he's much more likely to run into trouble for wearing the "wrong" tartan today than he would have been 200 or 300 years ago. Two centuries ago, the who idea of naming a tartan was still a new thing, and people routinely selected a tartan to wear purely based on personal taste.

Now it is true that he may be less likely to get derided for wearing the "wrong" tartan today than he would have been 20 or 30 years ago, as people are learning more and more about authentic Highland dress traditions and fewer are getting caught up in the made up rules and regulations of the past, one of which was that you could only wear a tartan if your last name "entitled" you to wear it.

There is no MacAvoy tartan, by the way. If he wanted to wear a tartan for his name, it would be MacLean of Duart. But is grandpa was a Johnston, and he wants to wear that tartan, by all means go for it!

Aye,
Matt

[Big Paul]

[Big Paul]

Many more pics Here.