tweed Talking the festival | fashion here’s a whisper of a chill in the air, plumes of wood smoke will soon billow gently from chimneys, light will Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney and Paul Smith are just a few of the designers who have championed tweed’s quirky appeal on the catwalk internationally. t h i n k r a c i n g , t h i n k t w e e d wh e t h e r i t ’ s t r a d i t i o n a l j a c k e t s a n d c a p s o r g i v e n a n u p - t o - t h e - m i n u t e t w i s t b y c o n t e m p o r a r y d e s i g n e r s . c o r r i e b o n d - f r e n c h l o o k s a t h ow i t h a s g o n e f r o m h u m b l e o r i g i n s t o b e c o m e t h e g o - t o c h o i c e f o r r a c e g o e r s T dwindle earlier.Then, rippling through the But tweed, with its utilitarian practicality, was never traditionally considered to be a fashion statement per se. Warm, comfortable, water-resistant and as hardy as the sheep that cluster on the craggy, gusty hillsides and generate the wool, tweed is perfect for when it’s a bit parky at Prestbury Park. Not necessarily qualities to spark a catwalk craze, perhaps. But as years and looms roll on, the pages continue to turn in tweed’s biography, and its legion of fans grows apace as traditional tweed walks trackside alongside the more flamboyant new kids on the block. Tweed has been spinning its own yarn for nigh on two centuries now. Most famously made in the Hebrides, Yorkshire and County Donegal, legend has it that the streets of Cheltenham like its namesake river, the earthy hues of tweed en-masse will usher in the autumnal jump race season like an old friend, hale and hearty at the racecourse gates. Synonymous with horse racing and with a history interwoven with country pursuits, tweed, the humble woollen cloth that some would consider the closest thing there is to British national dress, continues to defy the rules of fad and trend. It remains a classic, a stalwart of race meetings and pastoral pastimes, but it is also having something of a riotous renaissance. Enduringly popular, there is something of the comfort blanket about tweed, and a versatility that continues to inspire designers in all spheres.These days, it is just as likely to feature in both fashion and interiors magazines, covering club armchairs, sofas and even the dog’s bed coat and collar. There have been many chi-chi haute couture dalliances along the way too; name came about when twill, fabric on which the weave pattern is diagonal, was pronounced ‘tweel’ and reputedly misspelt by an order clerk far away in London.The name stuck as the cloth grew in popularity, presumably because the highland mills’ proximity to the River Tweed made geographical sense. One of the most famous fabrics in the world, Harris Tweed is protected by British law. Trademarked in 1909, to bear the mark of the Harris Tweed orb, the cloth, a coarser, heavier cloth in comparison to a classic worsted Donegal cloth, must be woven by a Hebrides Islander and finished in one of just a few island factories. The Industrial Revolution was a latecomer to tweed manufacturing. Homespun was always the name of the game, machinery was only fitted to Harris looms in the early 20th century. Rules were relaxed and years down the line, after many a lull in production, the availability of cloth types and variations of pattern from all tweed mills have ensured that there is now a tweed for everyone and every occasion. Patterns such as checks, houndstooth and herringbone are woven through the woollen fabric, in turn flecked with earthy tones and colours, derivatives of the surrounding landscape that were used to
“ Racing is where fashion and the countryside come together
Jade Holland-Cooper
44 Kalendar
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