Plaid, Patterned & Powerful

Worn Three Ways Wednesday, Week 48

Mad for Plaid

Plaid has lived a thousand lives.

It began as tartan in Scotland, where specific patterns marked clans and family lines. It was so powerful as a unifier that the British outlawed tartan after the 1745 Jacobite uprising. Later, it crossed the Atlantic, woven into American workwear and Western films, where flannels became synonymous with grit …