Tartan Tricks ?

[Lachlan09]

I must admit I’ve not witnessed the evolution of tartan and the kilt-scene in recent years and the growth of the culture, so a recent development surprised me. In the 1960’s, my family got on the tartan trail, modestly to begin, with a tartan tie. This was the first time I had seen our tartan, the Gow tartan. It was a quietly attractive tartan in 3 colours, red, green and black. The colours weren’t full-on, they were muted, so that instead of bright red, the red looked more like Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup red and the green was a pale green. The combination of generally equally wide stripes was simple but effective. Even the reduced tie-sett looked attractive. I got used to its look. About a year or so later, my dad, brother and I got our first Gow kilts. I was surprised to find the colours were different. They were red, green and dark blue. The colours were bright full colours. This time I was happy to get proper a kilt, but the different colours made me wonder why the tie was different. Cut to 1970. We all got new Gow kilts and jackets etc, this time from Gordon Stobo at Highland House, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh. My proper grown up outfit. The kilts were exactly the same as the tie had been, in muted red, green and black and what a bonny kilt it was (still is – it’s at home). People used to often admire its colours and simple elegance. A famous book on Highland clans and tartans of that time showed Gow as exactly that colourway.

I remember a singer we knew from Lewis called Hector Smith who wore a green/blue/yellow/red tartan tie. He said that was Smith tartan. The book showed it as Smith tartan.

Which brings us to the internet age.

When I look at the Gow tartan on internet sites, every single one, every trader and on-line store and even the Gow site shows Gow tartan as red/green/dark blue. That has me flummoxed as my beloved red/green/black appears nowhere. Does this mean if I wanted a Gow kilt for my son, it has to be red/green/dark blue ? I was of the opinion that the 18th Century Raeburn portrait of Niel Gow showed him in red/green/black trews.

What has happened over the last few years ? Where has the red/green/black Gow gone ? Furthermore, the green/blue/yellow/red tartan I knew as Smith is now called alternately Hunting Gow and Ancient Gow.

Is this a case of moving with the times or a result of better detective work on family setts or is it commercial convenience ?

[Jock Scot]

It is impossible to get the colours from different mills to match and even different runs of the same tartan( forgetting the ancient, weathered, modern thing for a moment) from the SAME mill can have marked colour differences.It is the way the fibers take on the dye,I am told. So in a way, green is green, red is red, blue is blue and so on and one mill's green, in their "modern" for example, will be very different to another mill's green in their "modern" tartan.

Mills have always adjusted the names of their tartans and I have always thought(with a modest smile) that those changes have been brought about after some one has ordered umpteen hundred yards of the "wrong" shade of tartan that has been made, sold, bought, shipped out, shipped back and returned under a cloud. The ensuing row, blame apportioned, paperwork and financial loss has made the mill change the name of the tartan, in a minor way, to avoid future misunderstandings and upset to themselves!

[Stratherrick]

When you think about it, original tartan, made in the mountains, would vary depending upon the wool and the dyes available.

Maybe we shouldn't get too hung up on shading. Just a thought.

Off for a kilted walk in the autumn woods!

Slainte

Bruce

[fluter]

from South Carolina.

It is likely that the "different" Gow tartans you've seen all have the same thread count and nominally the same colors (red, green, blue)---but in different shades. These are most commonly referred to as

ancient - soft colors, simulating old, faded fabric
modern - the dark, saturated colors
weathered - even more muted

Our fellow member and tartan guru Matt Newsome has some useful words on the terminology:
Tartan colors: a photo essay
Tartan terminology
"Ancient" colors revisited

Scotweb has one of the nicest "tartan finders" on the Web. It shows that Lochcarron offers Gow in its 16 ounce Strome tartan range, in both the ancient and modern colours. House of Edgar offers a Gow modern in 13-ounce medium weight.

Lochcarron's Web site shows the two together:
http://www.lochcarron.com/tartanstrome/gow.html

It sounds as though your tartan tie's red and green were like the "ancient" colourway, but the blue was so dark as to appear black. Or perhaps it was like what Lochcarron calls the modern, in the swatch linked above? As Jock Scot astutely observes, there may be many variations from one mill to the next.

When the time comes, you should describe to your kiltmaker or outfitter exactly what you want. They will marshal the swatches of fabric from the various mills, and find it! If it cannot be found, they can have it custom-woven. No worries, all it requires is time and money (less than you might think).

Meanwhile, much has been written about the colors, so happy reading!

Tartan finders:
http://www.scotweb.co.uk/ Click the ad at top of this page for discount!
http://www.tartansauthority.com/
http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/

[fluter]

P.S.

Ingles Buchan http://www.inglesbuchan.com/tartan_e_g.html makes light tartan for neckties, and their site shows a color much like the Lochcarron modern. The dark blue looks rather black where the blue stripes cross. I hope one of those 2 sources may give you the colors you're looking for.

I had a look at the Tartan Register info; it is intended to be an official and comprehensive listing. There is a thread count for the Neil Gow portrait, which is exactly proportional to the clan Gow tartan; except it lists dark purple for the blue!

In practice, either purple or blue may appear as black, if they're very dark.

[ShaunMaxwell]

It's my understanding that the Smith tartan is actually the Gow hunting tartan... I just received an 8-yard, 16 oz. Marton Mills kilt in the ancient colors and it's a beauty.

[m3fenton]

Funny, I got a chance to look at this rare tartan while in Perth a few years ago. It was lovely, although I don't exactly remember the color sequence.

Yours aye,

Mitchell R. Fenton

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Re: the Gow tartan, from the Raeburn portrait of Neil Gow (c. 1780), the thread count given by D. C. Stewart in his The Setts of the Scottish Tartans c. 1950 calls for three colors; red, blue and green.

I suggest that in the past the blue has been woven using very dark blue yarns, looking almost black, which may have caused confusion. Some woolen mills may have even used black at times, who knows? But the 1950 reference above indicates that the use of "blue" in this tartan is not something new.

Re: the Smith tartan, this is alternately called "Hunting Gow." There is some confusion over this tartan. The STA has several versions on record. It apparantly dates back to the nineteenth century and is somehow tied to Sir William Smith of the Boys Brigade. At one time it was said to only be proper for use by Smiths from the Hebrides, but it's widely sold as the tartan for use by all Smiths today.

[Lachlan09]

Hello there

Funny you should mention that about Smith. When my dad, brother and I performed with our Highland trio on stage in the 1960's/early 70's, one of the Gaelic singers at ceilidhs, who we got to know well, was a chap called Hector Smith, from the Isle of Lewis.

As for the Gow setts, the first kilt we had was in lightweight wool from Kinloch Anderson’s ex-kiltmaker in modern colours:- red/green/dark blue.

The second, later kilt we had, from Highland House, Lawnmarket (run by Gordon Stobo, who also supplied lots of pipe bands with uniforms, kilts and instruments and the backroom of whose shop was a social drop-in dram-stop for pipers from near or far, army, police or civilian) was in normal weight, in ancient/muted colours and was red/green and black (jet black). It was a beautiful kilt and the sett looked very simple but elegant and always drew many admiring comments.