Ancient Lamont
What is Tartan? /How many different Tartans are there? / Can a Clan have more than one tartan? / Do people still wear tartan? / Examples of Clan Lamont Tartans
"Tartan /'ta:t(a)n/ n. a pattern of coloured stripes crossing at right angles, especially a distinctive pattern worn by Scottish Highlanders to denote their Clan; cloth woven in such a pattern, [perh. f. OF tertaine, tiretaine]" - The Oxford English Popular English Dictionary 1990
As this definition states, Tartan is a cloth which was generally woven and worn by Scottish Clan members. It is a heavy, thick cloth which gets it colouring from the dyes made from local plants and is very warm which makes it very suitable for the Scottish climate. Because of the plant dyes used, tartans from different areas tend to have a particular colour pallet distinctive to that area and as Clan are generally geographically based these colours can be used to identify which Clan a tartan denotes.
In battle, opposing clan members would be able to determine who was friend or foe and as it blended into the environment tartan acted as an early form of camouflage.
There are well over a hundred Clans in Scotland and as any individual Clan may have a number of Tartans, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of Tartans in existence.
There are new Tartans being created all the time - some are new Scottish tartans eg the Flower of Scotland, some football tartans and even some inspired by Hollywood eg the Braveheart tartan. It is possible for an individual to design their own tartan.
Yes - a Clan can have more than one variation of a tartan.
Hunting tartans tend to be more muted in colour to to help the individual wearing it blend into the environment in order to make them less conspicuous to the wildlife they were hunting. Weathered tartans are also more muted in colour.
Ancient Tartans tend to be the traditional pallet of the tartan whilst Modern tartans tend to be more vibrant in colour.
Other Tartans can emphasise a particular aspect of the particular pallet of an individual tartan eg the red, green and pink varients.
Yes - people still wear tartan although it tends to be in the form or tartan scarfs and ties etc. Also the tartan pattern is used for such things as upholstery and other fashion items.
There was a recent fashion for girls and young women to wear tartan mini skirts.
In a formal context the wearing of Scottish national costume including a tartan kilt is seen as the black tie equivalant for the scottish gentleman at a formal event including balls and weddings.
Here are a few examples of the Lamont Tartans.
Ancient Lamont
Muted Lamont
Weathered Lamont
Modern Lamont