Reassessing the romance: tartan as a popular commodity, c.1770-1830

Tuckett, S. (2016) Reassessing the romance: tartan as a popular commodity, c.1770-1830. Scottish Historical Review, 95(2), pp. 182-202. (doi: 10.3366/shr.2016.0295)

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Abstract

Through examining the surviving records of tartan manufacturers, William Wilson & Son of Bannockburn, this article looks at the production and use of tartan in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While it does not deny the importance of the various meanings and interpretations attached to tartan since the mid-eighteenth century, this article contends that more practical reasons for tartan’s popularity—primarily its functional and aesthetic qualities—merit greater attention. Along with evidence from contemporary newspapers and fashion manuals, this article focuses on evidence from the production and popular consumption of tartan at the turn of the nineteenth century, including its incorporation into fashionable dress and its use beyond the social elite. This article seeks to demonstrate the contemporary understanding of tartan as an attractive and useful commodity.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Tuckett, Dr Sally
Authors: Tuckett, S.
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
Journal Name:Scottish Historical Review
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
ISSN:0036-9241
ISSN (Online):1750-0222
Published Online:01 October 2016

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