page_title: Tartan
section_title: Tartan etiquette
hierarchical_section_title: Tartan / Tartan etiquette
context_page_description: Tartan is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland; Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns.
  Tartan is made with alternating bands of coloured threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The weft is woven in a simple twill, two over—two under the warp, advancing one thread at each pass. This forms visible diagonal lines where different colours cross, which give the appearance of new colours blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of colour repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a sett.
  Tartan is often mistakenly called "plaid", but in Scotland, a plaid is a large piece of tartan cloth, worn as a type of kilt or large shawl. The term plaid is also used in Scotland for an ordinary blanket such as one would have on a bed.
  The Dress Act of 1746 attempted to bring the warrior clans under government control by banning the tartan and other aspects of Gaelic culture.
context_section_description: Since the Victorian era, authorities on tartan have claimed that there is an etiquette to wearing tartan, specifically tartan attributed to clans or families. Even so, there are no laws or rules on who can, or cannot, wear a particular tartan. The concept of the entitlement to certain tartans has led to the term of universal tartan, or free tartan, which describes tartan which can be worn by anyone. Traditional examples of such are Black Watch, Caledonian, Hunting Stewart, and Jacobite tartans, and many district or regional tartans. In the same line of opinion, some tartan attributed to the British Royal Family are claimed by some to be "off limits" to non-royalty.
  However, some modern tartans are protected by trademark law, and the trademark proprietor can, in certain circumstances, prevent others from selling that tartan. The "Burberry Check" of the English fashion house, first designed in early 1920s, is an instantly recognisable tartan that is very well known around the world and is an example of a tartan that is protected.
  Many books on Scottish clans list such rules and guidelines. One such opinion is that people not bearing a clan surname, or surname claimed as a sept of a clan, should not wear the tartan of their mother's clan. This opinion is enforced by the fact that in the Scottish clan system, the Lord Lyon states that membership to a clan technically passes through the surname. This means that children who bear their father's surname belong to the father's clan (if any), and that children who bear their mother's surname (her maiden name) belong to their mother's clan (if any). Also, the Lord Lyon states that a clan tartan should only be worn by those who profess allegiance to that clan's chief.
  Some clan societies even claim that certain tartans are the personal property of a chief or chieftain, and in some cases they allow their clansfolk "permission" to wear a tartan. According to the Scottish Tartans Authority — which is an establishment of the Scottish tartan industry — the Balmoral tartan should not be worn by anyone who is not part of the British Royal Family. Even so, some weavers outside of the United Kingdom ignore the "longstanding convention" of the British Royal Family's "right" to this tartan. The society also claims that non-royals who wear this tartan are treated with "great disdain" by the Scottish tartan industry.
  Generally, a more liberal attitude is taken by those in the business of selling tartan, stressing that anyone may wear any tartan they like. The claimed "rules" are mere conventions (some of which are recent creations), with different levels of importance depending on the symbolic meaning of the tartan on some particular occasion. For example, when a district tartan is worn at a football game, or a family tartan at a family event, such as the investiture of a new clan chief, the issue of wearing the event's tartan is of greater concern than wearing the same tartan when attending Highland Games where no event is scheduled where the tartan would have special significance. The same rules apply as do to wearing any clothing that prominently displays colors with national or political significance, such as un-patterned orange or green cloth in Ireland (regardless of whether it is worn as a kilt), or red, white, and blue colors at national events in France or the United States.
caption: Scottish actor Sean Connery at a Tartan Day celebration in Washington D.C.
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