In New York in 1992, a young fashion designer sent a daring collection awash with colourful plaid down the catwalk. The establishment response was caustic. In The New York Times, Bernadine Morris wrote that the outfits looked ‘as if [they] were put together with the eyes closed in a very dark room’. Suzy Menkes, the fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, so loathed the collection that she had badges made bearing the legend ‘Grunge Is Ghastly’, which she then handed out to fellow editors. Marc Jacobs – the designer responsible – was fired by his employers at Perry Ellis shortly thereafter. Plaid, however, became a 1990s icon.
Defining plaid can be a little tricky, as can working out where it ends and other, similar textiles – tartan, gingham, checks – begin. The term originates from the Gaelic plaide, which referred to a woven blanket or wrap, rather than a specific pattern. However, criss-crossing different coloured yarns in the warp and weft (the threads that stretch long-ways and across respectively) is one of the most basic designs in woven cloth and can be found in many cultures.
Over time, what had been a word for a simple blanket (that was presumably often made with this pattern) was transferred to the design itself. Today, plaid is generally used to refer to the entire family of fabrics that have a criss-crossing structure, including checks and ginghams. Tartans are plaids that are named for or associated with a particular clan or community.
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Used in interiors, plaids are extremely versatile. Available in a near-limitless array of styles and colours, they can be added to almost any scheme, either as a subtle complement to a more complex or organic pattern or as the star of the show. Ralph Lauren, a plaid devotee, has returned to them again and again in his collections. The ‘Westcliff Tattersall’, for example, is a simple but rather large grid that feels graphic and contemporary, while the ‘McLain’ and ‘Denis’ designs use earthier, more traditional colourways and structures, giving them a decidedly country-retreat air.
Similarly, Ian Mankin’s new ‘Paint Pot’ collection includes three plaids, one in a cheerful combination of claret and rust, and the others in more muted tones. Simpler, yet equally striking, is his jumbo gingham ‘Avon Check’, which comes in nine different hues, from black to soft pink. Those hankering for more than a touch of early-1990s grunge, however, could do worse than investing in Thibaut’s ‘Huntley’ plaid wallpaper, a small-scale design in shades reminiscent of those used by Jacobs to dress Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. Nor would you want to keep the room dark: these are statement prints deserving of a Nirvana T-shirt and a punk-rock attitude.
