Scotland is home to an exemplary textile and clothing industry for which it enjoys an enviable reputation. From the knitwear produced by Johnstons of Elgin and Hawick Cashmere; through the woven textiles of Begg Scotland, Harris Tweed and Lochcarron; to the garments manufactured by Mackintosh and the sweaters of Fair Isle, the country is in possession of a rich, heterogeneous and (culturally, if not always commercially) valuable industry. In spite of this, the popular perception of Scottish dress is mired in what Hugh Trevor-Roper refers to as Scotland’s ‘sartorial myth’: the inaccurate but persistent image of the tartan-kilted noble Highland man.

Attempts to dispel the stereotypes that have shadowed Scotland’s textile and clothing industries are ongoing, but the spectre of the tartan-clad Highland man remains, a reflection of the central role that myth-making has played in the construction of the country’s national identity. As Hugh Trevor-Roper succinctly notes, ‘the whole history of Scotland has been coloured by myth; and that myth, in Scotland, is never driven out by reality, or by reason, but lingers on until another myth has been discovered, or elaborated, to replace it.’ And so it is that Scotland’s dominant sartorial identity is based, not upon historical fact or its actual product, but upon a fabled past, one which inhibits a representative and nuanced interpretation of the Scottishness of Scottish dress.