the most faded kilt ever??

[biblemonkey]

Take a gander at this kilt from Ebay.

I've seen loads of 30 year old very faded band kilts around here, much discoloured by decades in the California sun. (A band here bought lovely British Columbia kilts back in the 80s, the vivid red of which has faded to a dingy pink.)

But this one has to take the cake!

Look how the MacKenzie Seaforth tartan is recognisable at the top, but at the bottom is so faded as to become an entirely different tartan



Do any of you have photos to share of very faded kilts?

Wow, that's one used up item! And what's with the belt? It looks like it's coming forward instead of going back.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

It must use the old "belt" fastening where you have a belt (and not a strap) sewn on the under apron which then goes through the normal "buttonhole" on the left side of the kilt all around the outside of the back of the kilt and then through a buckle on the right hip finishing, like this one, with the belt "pointing" forwards. It's an old system, not used very much nowadays.

That would be my assumption, as well.

See:
http://blog.albanach.org/2006/05/nov...ning-kilt.html

And:
http://kiltmaker.blogspot.com/2006/0...-take-two.html

[Tobus]

Wow, I learn something every day! Thanks, BCAC and Matt!

[NeightRG]

Hmm... Gets a guy thinking. This summer, I may have to wait until there's a forecast of clear skies for a while, take some tartan out to the farm, and hang it in the sun for a couple of weeks. I've got a blended wool fabric that was on eBay, photographed as sage and burgundy, but when it got to me, it was royal purple and hot pink... I think that'll be a prime candidate.

Matt - I'll bet that the Kennedy had a dramatic swish to the back, accentuated by the darker fabric under the pleats.

[NeightRG]

This is worthy of juxtaposition...




Settles some questions about the "weathered" tartans for me.
Looks like they just weave with weathered-looking colours that are closest to the original sett, instead of considering how the individual colours actually age.

[Tobus]

Settles some questions about the "weathered" tartans for me.
Looks like they just weave with weathered-looking colours that are closest to the original sett, instead of considering how the individual colours actually age.

I may be misinterpreting what you're saying, but I disagree.

Their "reproduction" colours are indeed supposed to represent how the colours actually age. For example, let's do another juxtaposition. This time with the original photo, next to a photo that Matt posted a while back (I hope he forgives me for using his photo).

This is his weathered Armstrong tartan by DC Dalgliesh. It looks pretty darn close to me! At least in terms of the way the green fades to brownish-yellow. The colours they used are virtually identical to the weathered hues in the faded kilt. And keep in mind that the faded kilt photo was taken indoors, against a white background, which always makes the colours look darker than they really are. People really need to use better light and better backgrounds when taking photos! I have little doubt that if it were to be photographed outdoors like Matt's was, it would look virtually identical to the colours in Matt's kilt.

[NeightRG]

The problem there is that you're comparing an entirely different tartan.



On top we see the eBay kilt, a real weathered Mackenzie
In the middle, a Dalgliesh Mackenzie, modern
On the bottom, a Dalgliesh Mackenzie weathered reproduction

See that on the eBay kilt, the black has faded to the orange/brown, while the greens and blues have stayed very dark.
Yet on the reproduction, the black is still black, the blue has been replaced by a much lighter, pale blue, and the green has turned to the orange/brown that we should see in the black.

[artificer]

The problem there is that you're comparing an entirely different tartan.

I don't entirely agree. I think Tobus has the right idea here. Once you adjust levels for the dark image on bright white background here's what you get.





You see the blue and green DO lighten up quite a lot.

The other important thing to remember is that it's an attempt to give the effect of a faded kilt, not exactly reproduce it to museum-quality standards. Some colours might be different because the designer at the mill thought it wouldn't be
pleasing, also remember that colours can vary from lot to lot, even from a single mill's run.

On top we see the eBay kilt, a real weathered Mackenzie
In the middle, a Dalgliesh Mackenzie, modern
On the bottom, a Dalgliesh Mackenzie weathered reproduction

See that on the eBay kilt, the black has faded to the orange/brown, while the greens and blues have stayed very dark.
Yet on the reproduction, the black is still black, the blue has been replaced by a much lighter, pale blue, and the green has turned to the orange/brown that we should see in the black.

[NeightRG]

Some colours might be different because the designer at the mill thought it wouldn't be pleasing

That's exactly the point that I'm making.

The most dramatic change in the real weathered tartan is easily that the black areas - originally the darkest parts of the tartan - turned into one of the brightest elements of the tartan - the orange/brown. And yet on the reproduction, they kept it black - either for aesthetic reasons, or to keep it more easily identifiable as Mackenzie.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

If Peter were online at the moment he would be able to explain to us exactly why in some of these older kilts the black dyes fade to this sort of greenish tan color. He's explained it before, but the reason escapes me now.

Just as a point of clarification, Dalgliesh's reproduction colors, which are the inspiration for other mill's weathered colors, are NOT an attempt to recreate the look of an old kilt faded with age and wear. They are instead inspired by old tartan specimens found buried in the earth for 200 years and so stained and faded in a completely different manner.

The so-called ancient colors, on the other hand, are supposed to represent what a kilt (such as this) would look like after years of natural aging. Or so the story goes.

http://www.albanach.org/terminology.html
and
http://www.albanach.org/anc_colors.html

Not that either is museum quality reproduction work. The best we can call them is mimicing the overall effect.