As students return to school, one patterned textile now synonymous with uniforms will make its seasonal reappearance on pleated skirts, jumpers and ties: plaid. The design has long been a mainstay in both classrooms and in pop culture, bringing to mind the hilarious Irish teens of “Derry Girls,” the bold ‘90s fashion of “Clueless” or the provocative outfits of the early 2000s pop duo t.A.T.u.
Plaid has become a catch-all term in the US, but includes patterns with distinct histories, including tartan, from Scotland, which is more associated with Catholic school uniforms, and madras, from India, which became a staple of American collegiate prep looks popularized by the likes of Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers in the latter half of the 20th century. It’s a family of textiles with broad scholarly appeal, with both religious and secular schools worldwide incorporating plaid into uniforms, from Mexico to Japan to Australia.
But how did a cloth like tartan, once the symbol of Scottish Highlander identity and rebellion, wind up on the fictional American teen Cher Horowitz as the ultimate twist on schoolgirl fashion? The reasons for the wool textile’s success as both a national identity marker and school dress code are one and the same.
“It really communicates a sense of belonging,” said Mhairi Maxwell, co-curator of the exhibition “Tartan,” which showed at the V&A museum in Dundee, Scotland, last year. “Any club, any society, any school, can design their own tartan. You’re part of this larger club, but you’re also your own little clique within it.”
Thousands of variations have been officially added to the Scottish Register of Tartans, making it a pattern that both follows strict rules and allows for “infinite possibilities” in design, Maxwell explained. There’s the highly recognizable red, blue, green, white and yellow weaves of the Royal Stewart (or Stuart) tartan — both the official tartan of the British monarchy and one of the most popular variations adopted by the punk movement — the blues and pinks of Vivienne Westwood’s MacAndreas tartan, worn by Naomi Campbell in the 1990s; and the crimson, white and black pattern made official by the University of Alabama in 2011.
“Tartan’s origins are so elusive — it’s really hard to pinpoint (their) origin story,” Maxwell said in a phone interview, noting that many cultures around the world have grid-patterned textiles in their histories, leading to the differing claims of where and when tartan was first woven. The pattern has specific rules, however, that distinguish it from check or gingham patterns as well as madras.
