I’m half-Scottish and half-Australian, not the most exotic mix. My Mother Eileen (née McKelvie) grew up near London but with Scottish parents and a holiday home on the Isle of Arran she’s a Scot. I spent every spring and summer swimming and crab-hunting in Arran, until I thought I knew better at fourteen; little did I know that its slow pace is what makes it so special and a place I now treasure. My Grandmother Mhairi McLeod was born on the Isle of Lewis, an island in the Outer Hebrides which is now best known as the birth place of Mary Anne Trump (née MacLeod, I know, I just can’t.)
I’ve written about my Granny’s style and how she dressed to impress in knife pleat skirts and twin-set cashmere until she died a few years ago at 97. She had a well-organised wardrobe of pencils and pleated skirts in different checks and tartans but the most significant were those in her clan tartan, the MacLeod check. Not seen to be the chicest (the modern update of the yellow and black tartan is near-on neon) she always looked exceptionally stylish and even as a nonagenarian she looked contemporary. Check is a huge trend this season (not got your oversized blazer yet?) – but that is just the base level of how bold, bright and in my opinion cool the print is. Red, navy, green, bright yellow, there are so many ways to update your wardrobe, whether you want to dip your toe into the trend with accessories, go full-on tartan or clash two together.
In celebration of being half-Scottish, a bit cowboy, Burns Night and a huge fan of tartan and checks, this week’s How to Style video looks at different ways you can wear the trend now.
F I V E O F MY F A V O U R I T E C H E C KS A N D T A R T A N S
