Dress tartan = failed concept?

[davidlpope]

I wear the Galician tartan, which has a cream base, but I don't think that it would be labeled as a "dress" tartan, since it's the only one for that region.

I think Galician has gotten to the heart of one aspect of the "dress tartan" phenomenon- here's my working hypothesis:

Certain tartan designs which are brighter than the average tartan, because either they have more white than average (Menzies, Hannay, Napier) or brighter colors (MacMillan, Macleod of Lewis, Barclay) will gradually get replaced by more conventionally colored tartans (usually styled as hunting tartans). These original tartan designs were not created to be "dress" tartans, but over time the popularity of the less bright tartans leads to their designation as "dress" tartans. This designation, and a stigma that is often attached to them, in turn, leads to less wear of these tartans, which further solidifies their status as "dress" tartans- sort of a snowball effect.

If this theory holds, i wouldn't be surprised to see a "Hunting" Galician tartan in the next decade or so which would gradually replace the current version in popular wear.

Cordially,

David