Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Tartan has colonized the world. The flexibility of its design and the traditionalism of its symbolism - as well as the travels of the Scots - have taken the fabric around the globe.

Traditionally the visual sign of clanship and district, tartan was popularized outside Scotland by the tartan-clad Highland regiments and Queen Victoria's royal endorsement. Hollywood has continued to sustain the romantic fictions of tartan from Brigadoon to Braveheart. At the same time, designers such as Westwood and McQueen have deliberately subverted the traditional and historical associations of the fabric, as have contemporary artists such as Matthew Barney. Post-punk, tartan now turns up in the most surprising places, influencing the conceptual clothing of a generation of Japanese designers such as Watanabe and Takahashi, the stage costumes of Outkast's Andre 3000 and contemporary interior design.

Beautifully illustrated and weaving together a story out of history, art, music, film and fashion, Tartan contains everything you ever wanted to know about this most radical and most traditional of fabrics.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• I Tartan and History
• 1 Technical Construction
• 2 Early Appearances
• 3 Fragments and Fabrication
• II Tartan and Dress
• 4 Transforming Tartan
• 5 Regulation Tartan
• 6 Erogenous Zones
• 7 Tartan Toffs
• III Tartan's Embrace
• 8 Balmoralisation
• 9 Tartan, the Grid and Modernity
• 10 Supernatural Tartan
• 11 Colonization
• 12 Tartan's Translation
• Tartan Timeline
• Notes
• Bibliography

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

While 19th-century and subsequent researchers have focused on tartan as a textile tradition, the identification of specific patterns with Scottish clans, and technical matters, Faiers (Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, UK), a published scholar on cultural studies, discusses tartan in broad philosophical, cultural, and political contexts. The origins of tartan remain clouded, but throughout the centuries the phenomenon of tartan has endured, adapting and transforming itself in the realm of traditional and fashionable dress, design, popular culture, and entertainment. Adopted in the early 1700s for military dress, tartan has achieved global recognition as a signifier of nationality, political allegiance, tradition, rebellion, and romance. As a constantly evolving trend, it has been characterized by both a strong progression--spurred by the 1747 Proscription Act banning the wearing of tartan in the Highlands of Scotland, and "Balmoralization" (an association with the royalty)--and decline. A great variety of illustrations of tartan fabrics as they appear in period portraits, fashion designers' collections, products, cartoons, stage, and film complement this thoroughly researched, annotated volume that should interest experts and general readers alike. A comprehensive bibliography and time line of tartan are included. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; general readers. M. Tulokas Rhode Island School of Design