Tartan

ORIGINS OF THE DURIE TARTAN

The origins of the Durie family tartan are not steeped in the mists of time. It is not an ancient one but very few are. As a Fife family the Duries would not, historically, have had a tartan but our family were all brought up wearing a variety of tartans that we believed we were entitled to wear, however tenuously: Fraser, Macnab and Ramsay, especially. When my father, Raymond Dewar Durie was encouraged by the Lord Lyon to matriculate his arms and be recognised as head of the family he asked which tartan the family were really entitled to wear. The answer came it would be best to create our own! I had studied fashion design and become very involved in textiles so was volunteered to oversee the creation. We had some family discussions and with the expert guidance of the late Harry Lindley, Master Tailor of Kinloch Anderson, the design plans were set in motion.

Both my father and brother Andrew, the current chief, had served in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and its regimental tartan, very similar to the most popular tartan in the world – Black Watch – was liked by and familiar to us all so it seemed a good starting point. Harry talked to me about the natural vegetable dyes that one would have found in Fife and the dark beetroot red was added, this could also be thought of as burgundy as a reference to possible ancient French links. The yellow stripe also reflected back to the A&SH dress uniform - representing the doublet’s yellow facings.

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