Tartan; Revised and Updated

Originally published in 2008 under the title: Tartan (Textiles that Changed the World), it has now been updated and revised to be the official book for the V&A Dundee Tartan Exhibition running in 2023.

The book aims to revitalise discussions about Tartan's traditional, romantic Highland origins and its deliberate subversion by contemporary designers. Through positioning Tartan within broader philosophical, political and cultural contexts, from the tartan-clad Highland regiments and Queen Victoria's royal endorsement to the fabric's influence on Westwood and McQueen and a generation of Japanese designers such as Watanabe and Takahashi, the author traces its development from clanship to contemporary fashion and its enormous domestic and global impact.

Beautifully illustrated and weaving together a story out of history, art, music, film and fashion, Tartan contains everything you ever wanted to know about this most radical and most traditional of fabrics. 

Jonathan Faiers is Professor of Fashion Thinking and Co-Director of the Winchester Luxury Research Group at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. U.K.  He is the founder and co-editor of the journal Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption, and lectures internationally on the interface between textiles, dress and popular culture, on subjects including the history of fur, dysfunctional cinematic fashion and post-war British couture.

This is a new copy.