14 January 2027

Breacan and Plaid: A Search for Authenticity in Highland Dress

Online talk by Rupert Willoughby

Organised by Society of Higland & Island Historical Research. Email to researve a place, and to receive the Zoom link. Participation is free for members and students. Non-members are requested to pay a lecture fee of £5. More details from their website

Is the Scottish national dress, so proudly sported by Low-Countrymen and other Sasannaich, any more than a travesty of the authentic Highland costume? Its natural development was arrested by the ban of 1746, when Scottish hillmen, even those loyal to King George, were forced into the tight and unmanly breeches of the Englishman. Yet the kilt, plaid and tartan all survived as military attire, ensuring genuine continuity into the post-ban period. A key event was King George IV’s ‘jaunt’ to Edinburgh in 1822, when Sir Walter Scott encouraged all Scotsmen to turn out in their ‘clan’ tartan, even if, in most cases, it had to be invented for the occasion. In his quest for authenticity, Rupert has combed unpublished sources and iconography for evidence of the use of the kilt, plaid and other accessories in the ‘before’ and ‘after’ periods. A particular ‘thread’ is the experience of the men of Breadalbane as fencibles and militiamen, and as participants in the events of 1822, his own ancestors among them; and he has his own suggestions about how Highland dress should be worn today.