his is the web site of
Matthew Newsome, director of the
Scottish Tartans Museum (Franklin,
NC), member of the Guild of Tartan Scholars, and
Governor of the Scottish Tartans
Authority. For more biographical information
click here.
This site serves as a repository of articles and information having to
do with Scottish Highland Dress -- namely tartan and the kilt. The
visitor is encouraged to browse through the books and articles I have written
using the navigation menu at the top of the page. Archives of articles I
have written for the Scottish Banner newspaper can
be found here.
Less formal musings on related topics are found in
my blog. You may also read
my various ramblings on Highland Dress in the X Marks the Scot
kilt wearer's forum.
I have studied -- and worn -- kilts both as historical dress and
contemporary attire. I am also a kilt maker, specializing in the style
of the original tailored kilt of the late eighteenth century – box pleated,
using on average only four yards of cloth. If you are interested in
having one of these traditional kilts made for you, please visit my kilt
retail site,
www.newhousehighland.com.
If you are interested in having me
come to speak on these or
related topics at your event, please
email me for
more information. I have given lectures at various
Scottish Highland Games and festivals, as well as to school, church, and
community groups.
“Pleas it your Majestie to understande that
we of all people can tollerat, suffir, and
away best with colde, for boithe somer and wyntir, (except whene the froest is
mooste vehemonte) goynge always bair leggide and bair footide . . . therefore,
in so moche as we use and delite so to go always, the tendir delicatt
gentillmen of Scotland call us Redhankes.” –John Elder, a Highland priest,
writing to King Henry VIII of England in 1542.
“Those who inhabit Scotland to the South of
the Grampian mountains are tolerably civilized and orderly, and speak the
English language; but those who inhabit the North are more rude, homely and
unruly, and for this reason are called ‘Wild.’ They wear like the Irish
a large and full shirt, coloured with saffron, and over this garment hanging
to the knee, of coarse wool, after the fashion of a cassock.” – Nicolay
d’Arfeville, cosmographer to the King of France, describing James V’s voyage
to north of Scotland in 1547.
