The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-23
THE WEARING OF THE TARTAN.
Fashionable Patterns for London Men
 and the Right of IISing Them.


 Fashionable Patterns for London Men
 and the Right of Using Them.
 It is especially noticeable this winter
 to how great an extent tartans are being,
 worn in London, not only by the fair
 sex, to whom they have always been
 more or less endeared, but also by the
 mere man of fashion. A few words
 upon the wearing of the tartan may be
 of interest to those-Englishmen as well
 as Scotchmen-who may contemplate
 the purchase of such articles of clothing
 as lend themselves to be fashioned out
 of colored Cor multi-color) materials. In
 the first place, then, it may be as well
 to enumerate the manner in which the
 man of Highland extraction may wear
 the tartan of his ancestors, not by way
 of the cheerless if picturesque kilt and
 plaid, but in some less conspicuous 1 form.
 The most popular article of masculine
 attire s of course, the cravat or tie,
 and this year most hosiers seem to have
 laid in a stock of ties of various shapes
 in the correct tartans of the better
 known clans or septs. They look well
 in silk, especially if the bow tie or sail OTIS knot shape be selected; but there
 are also some few of Irish poplin which | look quite as we'll and last much long
 CT. After the tie comes the silk muffler, also very appropriate in tartan, and,
 after the muffler, attention may be
 drawn to the double breasted fancy
 waistcoat for winter wear It will be a welcome change from the eternal stripes
 and spots and meaningless checks and
 need not be more gaudy--if gaudiness be crime in fancy Waistcoatings The Things of overcoats and cloaks, too,
 might well be of plaided material in preference to the universal horsecloth. Rugs of tartan are ubiquitous this sea- son; it is impossible to travel anywhere without encountering some voyager smothered in tartan, usually, it is to be feared, of a clan to which he can by no pretence me held to appertain.
 And this brings me to the subject of the right of any given individual to the use of clan tartans. Strictly speaking, only one who actually bears as surname the name of Highland clan may wear, as of right, raiment fashioned of the tartan of that particular clan. But there is distinguished precedent for the wearing of the tartan by those who de- scend in the female line from one of the numerous septs who fiourished the targe and the claymore in wilder days beyond the Highland boundary. While 1t is doubtful if the late Prince Henry of Battenberg had any right to don kits of Royal Stuart tartan, there can be no objection to any of her majesty's lieges doing pretty much as they choose in the matter. At the present day a number of quite modern tartans have been in- vented for those whose ancestors never chased the wild deer not followed the roe, and whose fathers did not feed their tlocks upon the Grampian Hills. Thus there are now many border names for which tartans have been designed and manufactured, as Douglas, Elliot and Scott, so that few Scotsme nshould find it difficult to procure their own par ticular tartan.
 For the rest, the old .tartans of the clans should certainly never be worn by any who do not belong to a clan, at least | by right of feminine descent. There are, however, some modern tartans, such as the Bruce and the Wallace, | which, together with that of the we'll known Rob Roy and that ever popular "sett," the Royal Stuart, or Prince | Charlie" or the later Hunting Stuart and "Victoria Tartan" or Dress Stu art" may we'll be held to be at the dis posal of the world at large. Men who fall victims to the passion for plaid should first ascertai nwhether under the above easy-going rule they are entitled to a tartan, and, if so, select their tles muf1lers or travelling rugs accordingly; while if they should be unfortunate enough to claim no descent from lands beyond the Tweed, they can fall back upon the more or less universally worn tartans indicated above. There are also, it should not be forgotten, the tartans of the Highland regiments, which differ from clan tartans; and to the wearing of which, an they choose, off, 3ers who have served in such regiments man certainly exercise the right.
 Tartans fall naturally into two groups the fred" and the green" The lat .er are more numerous and popular on account of their less conspicuous ap- oearance. Some makers have gone so lar as to invent, under the titles of Hunting Maclean," Hunting Fraser" md the like, green tartans of a similar ;ett to the corresponding red clan tar an. All such should be taboo to the nan who would be as nearly correct and sell respecting as may be-, There are no artans which, if tastefully worn, are 'eally impossibly conspicuous, and a licer choice of material and of the size if the pattern employed serves to mod fly the most crude of ancient patterns After all, the world is beginning to re- ;ain it's lost feeling for color in male costumes, and the wearing of tartan is ! long step in wise and admirable di- standardization.
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