TARTAN COLOR SCHEMES

A brief explanation

    Many people become rather confused about the terms "ancient," "modern," and "weathered" when they are attached to tartans.  In reality, the terms are not that confusing, once you know what they really signify and forget those romantic stories that you heard at the Highland Games.  The typical myth, that you have probably heard, is that the modern colors represent shades that only became available after the introduction of chemical aniline dyes in the mid-nineteenth century.  Ancient colors represent the softer hues obtainable with vegetable dyes, and therefore are more traditional.

    While this is a very simple explanation, it is also very wrong.  Dyers using vegetable dyes certainly had the ability to obtain some very dark colors -- bottle green, navy blue, even black.  And existing tartan samples dating back to the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (before aniline dyes were used) look closer to today's "modern" colors than anything else.  So what do these terms signify?

    First of all, it is very important to realize that these terms refer to different shades of color and not to different tartans.  A single tartan pattern can be woven from yarns in either the modern, ancient, or weathered color palettes (or sometimes a mix of them) and it is still the same tartan.  As far as traditional tartans are concerned, a green is a green is a green, and a red is a red is a red, and you can weave the tartan out of any hue of that color you desire.  As long as you do not replace it with a different color (a red for a blue) then it is still the same tartan.

MODERN:  These are the standard colors.  Typically they are deep, rich shades.  The greens are bottle greens, the blues are navy, the reds are bright and bold.  While it does not look exactly the same as hand dyed cloth from the eighteenth century, these colors come closer than anything else commercially available today.

ANCIENT:  These are lighter, softer colors.  The greens will be light greens, the blue may be a powder blue or a sky blue.  The reds fade to orange.  The effect this is supposed to represent is that of an old, worn, and faded piece of cloth.  The idea is that the colors were dark originally, but have faded with time, and therefore this color scheme is called "ancient."  It is the same concept as "stone washed" blue jeans.  They are made new to already look old and worn.  Rather the ancient colors accurately depict what a faded piece of tartan would look like is questioned by textile experts.  But such is the intent.  They were first introduced sometime after the WWII era, so any reference to tartan prior to then will make no mention of "modern" or "ancient" colors.

WEATHERED:  This is a more recent introduction than the ancient colors, and represents an even more dramatic fading.  The attempt here was to replicate what tartan cloth would look like after being buried in a peat bog for a couple of hundred years and then unearthed.  The colors are extremely washed out.  The blues fade to gray.  The greens fade to brown.  The reds are a light brick red color.  Again, whether this accurately depicts what such a piece of cloth would look like if buried is doubted by textile experts.  But this is the intent.

    In the end, which color scheme to select is entirely a matter of personal taste.  If you don't favor one over the other, the modern is recommended as the standard.  Sometimes newer tartans may exhibit colors from more than one color scheme (a dark green and a powder blue, for example) and so are hard to classify.  Other terms are also assigned to tartans that do not refer to color hue but some other aspect.  "Hunting" tartans typically have more green (but not always).  "Dress" tartans typically have more white (but not always).  "Old" tartans are other designs that predate the usual one.  In the end, however, the tartan you should purchase is the one you will wear, and the one you will wear is the one that you like.