Mad for Plaid

One of the hottest new trends for fall is plaid. Wearing a little touch of plaid will help you look current and up-to-date. For the more conservative and traditional, add a burberry scarf or a plaid shoe to your wardrobe. It will help make all those basics in your wardrobe pop. For the more fashion daring, invest in a plaid dress or skirt. The british rock look is popular this fall so use this plaid trend to add a funky edge to your wardrobe.

With plaid being so popular this season, I though it only fitting to discuss the whereabouts of this fabulous pattern.

Plaid, more traditionally called Tartan, can be traced back all the way to the 5th century in Ireland, the home of the Scots. It was originally a type of uniform that the Scots wore to help associate them to their specific clan. Although we can trace tartan back so far, it looked very different from what we think of plaid today.

The first piece of tartan clothing was a long shirt, almost to the knee called a léine probably made of linen. The colored stripes were later added to help indicate the rank of the person wearing it. The more stripes equaled the high the power. Tartan grew from a shirt to a large piece of fabric that the Highlanders would wear like a hood with pleats around their waist for warmth at night. By 1730, the pattern had evolved into something what would resemble today's plaid.

After becoming a staple garment in the Highlands, during the battle of Culloden in 1946, the English Army invaded the Highlands, destroying textile production and banning clan tartans. Facing the consequences, the Highlanders insisted on wearing their tartan which became a large part of the Scottish culture signifying the fellowship of the Scots.