TARTANS POPULAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26783, 28 May 1948, Page 4

TARTANS POPULAR

CENTENNIAL INFLUENCE TREND IN FASHIONS

The centennial celebrations and the consequent accent on Scots and all things Scottish appear to be having some influence on feminine fashions. Middle-aged matrons and ’teen-age girls have been stirred by an unconscious patriotism in the matter of clothing and Dunedin retailers are experiencing a keen demand for tartan of every type. In many cases shop assistants have discovered that their customers have an excellent knowledge of the many varieties of tartan —a knowledge which they are only too pleased to air at the expense of the unfortunate assistant who makes the error of describing a tartan by its colour instead of by its clan name. Some of these purists have expressed horror at the ignorance of assistants in this respect, forgetting perhaps that tartan kilts and plaids are not as common, in New Zealand at least, as they used to be in the days when every Scot used his tartan as an identification badge. The smart appearance of the hundreds of pipers and drummers who attended the New Zealand pipe bands’ contest at Easter is considered by some to have had a marked influence on the feminine whim for tartans. The numerous other attractions of a Scottish flavour in this centenary year

have also, it is claimed, put the idea of tartan skirts second only to the “ New Look ” in the minds of femin‘ine customers. Those who succumbed to the urge to buy tartan because of the stirring of a patriotic pulse must have been a little mortified to find that much of the selection offering in some city shops had its origin, not on Scottish looms, but in France and other Continental countries. The days of the Stuarts, who had periodically to seek refuge in France, are long past, but there is still a natural affinity between the two countries in the matter of tartan production. The increased interest of women in tartan clothing has not, it appears, been solely confined to Dunedin. A local tailor who specialises in the making of kilts has, of recent months, received {orders from all parts of the Dominion. Whether this is the result of Otago’s centennial or an indication of a broadening of the Scottish field of influence is unknown, but the demand for tartans appears to be spread throughout New Zealand.