Plaid, Checkered and Gingham.
so, what are the differences?
The difference between plaid, tartan, gingham and checkered...
Plaid
A plaid is a pattern consisting of crossed horizontal and vertical bands in two or more colors in woven cloth. It is a cloth made with a tartan pattern wrapped around the waist and cast over the shoulder and fastened at the front. The literal Gaelic meaning is "blanket". The belted plaid or "great kilt", earlier form of the kilt. Plaid is used as a synonym for tartan in North America.
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colors. Where different colors cross, which give the appearance of new colors blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of color repeat vertically and horizontally in squares.
Gingham
Gingham is a medium-weight balanced plain-woven fabric made from dyed cotton or cotton-blend yarn. where the coloring is on the warp yarns and always along the grain (weft). Gingham has no right or wrong side with respect to color.
Checkered
Checkered is usually squares of two different colors usually alternating one color with white or black
What is it between Tartan and Plaid?
All tartans are plaid, but not all plaids are tartan.
They both are comprised of stripes (varying sizes and colours) that meet at a 90 degree angle. This pattern crossing at right angles is called the sett. Generally, with tartan, the pattern on the stripes running vertically (warp) is exactly duplicated on the horizontal thread (weft). This matching pattern in both directions creates a grid.
Plaid is the fabric and the pattern is called Tartan. Plaid is any cloth that has the tartan pattern on it. The word Plaid is derived from the Scottish Gaelic Plaide, meaning "blanket"
I think the 'belted plaid' was the first distinctive tartan Highland dress in Scotland. Around 1725 the 'little kilt' was created by discarding the upper half of the plaid, stitching up its pleats and introducing a flat apron at the front, becoming the kilt of today.
"Putting on the Plaid"
The oldest surviving piece of Scottish woollen checked cloth is the 'Falkirk Sett Tartan'. It is dated to 250AD. It was discovered in Falkirk moss and is woven from the wool of 2 different sheep, one light and one dark.
An even older (1200 - 700 BC) plaid woollen twill fabric was found in China. As you can see in the image it is woven light brown with light blue and white stripes.
Here is a Tartan I'm sure you instantly recognise
The Burberry Check, first designed in the 1920s, and highly popular today, thanks to Christopher Bailey and Kate Moss.
This is the poster for a wonderful exhibition The Costume Institute of the African Diaspora presented in London in 2014. The Costume Institute of the African Diaspora researches the history and culture of clothing and adornments from Africa and the African Diaspora. This particular exhibition is the story of how tartan travelled around the world and influenced material culture developing in certain parts of Africa.
Take in this link to a documentary concerning the development and curating of the exhibition. It is well worth viewing, even if just to see the expert on tartan, as he does know his stuff.
Have some fun with this link, designing your own plaid/tartan patterns.
And if you are serious about Tartan you might like this web link
https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/whatsNew.aspxAs I've said before, and shown before, Rei Kawakubo CDG, likes Tartan/Plaid.
CDG Autumn/Winter 2003
CDG Spring/Summer 2006
This collection inspired my plaid/pasifika print skirt
I found these fabrics in my workroom, a greeny/red plaid (used before) and a green camo chiffon (can't remember where I got it!), and I feel a desire to make a a top inspired by the CDS/S '06 collection. The green camo chiffon has been stashed away for years...it's always good to finally make a fabric into something.
CDG Spring/Summer 2007 collection
CDG Autumn/Winter 2010 collection
I love RK's love of Tartans and Plaid, 'cos I love them too!
The late/great Alexander McQueen also created some amazing collections using tartan.
For McQueen, tartan, the visual symbol of clanship throughout Scottish history, was a reference to his own Scottish heritage and Scotland's volatile political history.
His A/W 1995/96 collection, "Highland Rape", was particularly obvious regarding his own personal feelings. It was in the early days of his career and came across as quite raw and angry.
Watch it on this video link.
I think the models do a pretty good job displaying the emotion Alexander McQueen wanted expressed through his design concept.
Ten years later in his A/W 2006/07 collection, McQueen's Scottish connection was again evident in 'The Widows of Culloden'. This collection was based on the final battle of the Jacobite Risings in 1745...Bonnie Prince Charlie and co.
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| Recruiting for the Prince's Army by Angus McBride |
The collection was described as displaying wistfulness, the McQueen tartan, and...
exaggerated shapes which seemed to be inspired by Victorian styles.
McQueen refined the concept he had displayed in "Highland Rape". This collection was much more romantic with the idea of heroines wandering in the glens and the castles, wearing tartan crinolines and antler headdresses.
An amazing state-of-the-art Kate Moss hologram by video maker Baillie Walsh started the runway showing of this collection. You can see some of it on this link
Comme des Garcons Comme des Garcons is a secondary line in the Comme des Garcons universe. Apparently it was established in 1993 and is nicknamed 'Comme Comme' It is a line dedicated to basics, and here are some nice plaid/tartan pieces from a recent collection.
A cool Junya Watanabe CDG t-shirt with a kinda punk tartan/plaid feature
A few years ago I came across a nice bit of plaid cotton knit so it got added as decoration onto a t-shirt.
I also found some scrunched up plaid fabric which I utilised in interesting pocket features for an otherwise very plain jacket
What about this beautifully cut plaid/tartan CDG Jacket. The matching of the checks impresses me. It takes time and effort to produce this. Admirable time and effort.
And these CDG 'Pants Kilt' are also a very neat concept, seen before do you think? Thinking of previous blog material.
Speaking of, what about a classic Viv. Westwood plaid/tartan haute couture garment.
and, I think this is another V.W. outfit, love it, fabulous plaid/tartan skirt with great shirt and shoes. Just the right outfit to wear to the office job demonstrating your own cool style, or to deliver the weather on t.v. An outfit like that on the weather girl would really please me.
And before I leave the tartan/plaid discussion, I want to share Matthew Bourne's 'Highland Fling', which was described as "Ballet meets Trainspotting".
It actually is a reworking of the ballet classic La Sylphide but with a "scotch" twist.
Check out this link for a montage of the ballet..it'll help you get some idea of the production.
Just finished a tartan print t-shirt. It's got an interesting origami like hem section. Instead of the normal hem section it's worn via a slash in a front and back side seam
Now rolling on to the next aspect of this blog's theme with this image....a neat CDG tartan bag and a gingham skirt...
What does it make you think of...dining out at Ivy's?
It was manufactured in Dutch-colonised Malaysia and Indonesia. India was also in on the manufacture of it. In the 1600s it was exported to Europe, and a century later, to the U.S.A. In the mid 1700s it was being produced in the mills of Manchester, where it started to be woven into the check pattern as we now know it, consequently becoming very popular.
The fibres are coloured before being woven together, and there is no right or wrong side as the appearance is the same on both sides.
The checks range from very small to very large patterned checks, which CDG makes good use of in some shirts, such as this one..
In the 2012/13 season the Manchester-United Football Club presented a 'gingham' kit which paid homage to Manchester's industrial past.
Some fans said, "The new strip looks like a tea towel or something Rupert the Bear would wear!"
Looks like a tea towel!
Something Rupert the Bear would wear! (They didn't know their plaid from their gingham)
One of Rei Kawakubo's infamous CDG collections S/S 1997 'Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body' presented garments in stretch nylon/polyurethane plain-weave printed gingham check. The gingham fabric was commissioned from textile designer Hiroshi Matsushita, who designed many astounding fabrics for CDG collections. Matsushita had a lifetime of working in textiles, which gave him an encyclopaedic knowledge of the intricacies of fabric. His background experience enabled him the capacity to immediately recognise what qualities in the fabric would reflect RK's particular concept for a collection.
In CDG's S/S 2008 collection, described as "Randomness Cacophony", RK again worked with delightfully sweet gingham.
As is this gingham suit!
It is from the CDG A/W 2013 "infinity of tailoring" collection and included many other checks as well as the gingham.
Here are some sweet gingham designs from Tricot CDG
I've been going through a gingham phase of my own lately, CDG inspired, a top with gingham sleeve inserts..
and a woollen skirt with a middle gingham section
or, this V.W. style gingham top.
The pattern is available through this link...it's better to view it with Adobe Acrobat Reader because you can see more than one page at the one time, which will make it easier for you.
This is the work involved in taping the A4 papers together..
Let's look at some checks....a 'CDG Homme' image referencing cool check jackets.
Madras...
Shepherd's Check...
Prince of Wales Check...
Windowpane Check...
Graph Check...
Tattersall...
Mini-Check...
Pin-Check
Houndstooth check suits from the same collection
Use this link to see the actual show of this collection. You'll get a better view of the checks RK was inspired by.
My inspiration of the "shorts/culottes" from this collection. Mine are constructed from a linen Prince of Wales with a pink Windowpane check.
Here is my lovely Sophie, Yr 13, working with a piece of houndstooth fabric for her Level 3 'Small Fashion Collection' Project.
The finished outcome..looks great, the mixing of the patterns.
Finally finished my top using the tartan and chiffon camo fabric. I used the VW pattern making some adaptations that worked better for me. I'll be able to wear it in a variety of ways.
And to finish, gingham gloves...making a statement...cigarette..fore finger to the temple...
the highly conceptual artist Cindy Sherman, worked with a CDG collection in 1994. Sherman had a number of collaborations with Rei Kawakubo in which she often portrayed imperfect women (according to the fashion world anyway). The models were not the usual lithe and physically ideal females seen in fashion shoots.
(I hope I get the opportunity to view the Cindy Sherman exhibition that is to be held at Wellington's City Gallery later in the year.)
SLTSLTBsigning off...
again looking backwards, this time showing the plaid pattern denim back on one of my jackets.
Now, let's get looking forward to the next blog!