Tartan ID question on an antique photograph

[Mer]

Hello there,

I'm new to the site - we're not quite full-fledged kilt-wearers in my family (we did have a piper and tartan sashes at our wedding and keychains in the shape of sporrans - does that count?), but proud Gordons nonetheless. I have what is probably a daft question. I collect antique photography, and I have an American tintype of a woman in what is considered "fancy" (costume) dress for the time period, as for an important ball or party. She appears to be in some sort of Scottish attire - an Americanized version, no doubt. A costume historian told me that I might be able to figure out her surname or what kind of event she's dressed up for if I can identify the tartan - but is that even possible in a black and white photograph? I bring this one in to my classroom sometimes when I teach literature, and my students always have questions about it that I can't answer.

The tintype is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gormer/...57625341951776

Thanks for your insight!

[dowofbuchanan]

well on a glance it shares a lot of lines with the gordon tartan but i wouldnt even know how to begin identifying a tartan in a black and white, thats a task that might even be too big for the mighty matt newsome

[figheadair]

Well you'd asked for my opinion privately but since this is now in the public domain I'll share my answer with the rabble.

Black and white photography can often be difficult to interpret because some colours appear opposite in intensity to how they do to the naked eye. Actually what I think we have here is good old Royal Stewart with light blue at the edge of the red. This was one popular tartan in Victorian times (I'd date this picture c1880-90) and I think that this is woman's pseudo-Scottish dress made to ape the male dress at a time before women wore kilts like they do today. You'll see that there is also a train/plaid, probably silk that is a warp faced tartan. This was probably a fashionable outfit rather than for Scottish events such as Burns' Night.

I very much doubt that it was intended to represent any particular clan connection.

[Mer]

I appreciate your input. I hadn't realized tartans were so fashionable during the time period, but apparently Queen Victoria set a trend for that which bled over into the U.S. Now I can confidently tell my students it's an earlier example of trendy, Americanized Scotland on display . . . kind of like this past school year when two of my senior students bought Utilikilts and beat-up tam o'shanters (which they proudly wore with their dreadlocks) to celebrate their "heritage"!