Black Watch Tartan

The Black Watch tartan is my favourite tartan. I generally wear black at all times, but do love to occasionaliy veer off into a tartan such as the Black Watch, where its dark and dramatic aspects perfectly suit my style of dress. It’s also probably the only time you may see me wear true colour! In my current couture studies I am getting the opportunity to work with this tartan in a sheath dress.

The Black Watch pattern with its dark colours can be dated back as far as the early 18th century, and it was favoured by Scottish guard/police groups and the military as their distinguishing mark of dress, and is also recognized as the clan tartan of the Clan Campbell. The Black Watch tartan is also known as the Government tartan, the Hanoverian tartan, and the Universal tartan.

I recently came across an excellent source book about tartans and tweeds:

There are many books out there about tartans, but what I appreciate about this volume is that it is current (2017), and contains a good amount of general information about the history and production of tartan, with a very good focus on fashion. I highly recommend this book if a person wishes to get acquainted with some of the history of this fascinating fabric.