Plaids and Tartans - Topic of the day 4/9/25
Tartans often refer to specific striped patterns relating to a cultural or familial significance. Plaid is often used as an alternative word for tartan but they are techincally different. So, what are your favorite tartan patterns and what do they mean to you?
19 Replies
pour one out for a real one
two real ones
on a serious note
i love the dad vibes i get from a nice short sleeve plaid button up
Plaids and Tartans are cool and there’s plenty of neutral ones anyone can use for their garments and they’re mostly very fun - though I admit I don’t necessarily look up any old plaid item I buy if it’s a family tartan. How would I even do that?
Blackwatch was very in for a while there too iirc.
Coolest in theory: Vivienne Westwood's MacAndreas tartan
Coolest in practice: unnamed 90s LL Bean plaid flannel I stole from my dad
Worst in both categories: buffalo check
I love a shadow plaid. Wish I could find the Pendleton Board Shirt in a brushed cotton instead of wool because I always love their plaids and that cut.
My favourites are the Ancient Royal Steward tartan and the Princess Diana Memorial tartan, they‘re both super rare to come by around here tho sadly
Finally, a fellow buffalo check hater
🦬 check isn’t as bad as yall make I out to be - as long as it’s neither red nor diagonal
The best plaids are the ones you get handed down to you. Case in point: This plaid flannel from my late grandfather.
I like blackwatch
But that's also the only one I know by name
all my favorite shirts are plaid. I like em in all fabrics
plaid pants seem a little beyond my skill level, but I see people pull it off
Today its the one I call “blue greeny”. Whoever gave it a name before is dead, and im alive
The Carnegie Mellon tartan is decent, I just love that among the landscape of fierce college mascots they chose a gay little dog with a scarf
I like one that even slightly remixes buffalo though. Portugese Flannel does modern patterns that do this
I only learned about this recently via The Smithsonian!
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-new-tartan-pattern-created-to-honor-women-accused-of-witchcraft-in-scotland-between-1563-and-1736-180986172/
Smithsonian Magazine
See the New Tartan Pattern Created to Honor Women Accused of Witchc...
The black, red, gray and pink design honors the thousands of individuals—mostly women—who were persecuted under the Scottish Witchcraft Act
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7KQrZK28X0oaIAxzNB2N0U?si=rDMfEibRT0iNWU9DMkTmQQ&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A6XKe8xy5P16OLrkBW9oz0k
Should give this podcast ep a shoutout
Spotify
2. Plaid
I like plaid
I am a sucker for anything resembling glen plaid