Perhaps few fads in fashion match the staying power of plaids.
Fans of plaids span more than 3,000 years, from pop music's Madonna - she wore a plaid kilt on her 2001 U.S. tour - to the mummies of Urumchi - ancient Caucasians found buried with Celtic plaids in China.
"Plaids and tartans are very traditional designs. ... They are a way of evoking a kind of comfy nostalgia," says Margaret Walch, director of the New York City-based Color Association of the United States.
Plaids also offer "a way of introducing color in a tasteful, timeless way," says Walch, who predicts the appearance of many patterned fabrics in warm reds, browns and yellows through 2003.
This season, reds race through many new plaids, just in time for the holidays.
"Plaids are classic. ... Plaids always enjoy a presence in fall and holiday lines," says Joanne Pagnanelli, vice president and director of fashion merchandising at Kaufmann's, Downtown.
Indeed, two red plaid Ralph Lauren skirts - one long, one short - appear in Lord & Taylor's current holiday catalog.
At Saks Fifth Avenue, Downtown, it's "Burberry, Burberry, Burberry," general manager Alison Mayher says about the popular black-and-beige plaid introduced more than 75 years ago in Great Britain.
"We're selling handbags, scarves, ear muffs, headbands, coats. We have 'scrunchies,' too. Men's shirts. Ties. Umbrellas," Mayher says.
Also rampant are plaids that imitate the Burberry check - originally created for a raincoat lining.
"It's been knocked off so much, that there probably isn't a store around where you couldn't find a Burberry-like print," Lazarus spokeswoman Heather Hannan says. "We could thank them for the renewed in interest in plaid."
At Lazarus, the emphasis is on plaids in junior apparel, and plaids with a slant.
"All the plaids are on the diagonal," Hannan says. "For the holidays, they have a hint of sparkle - from golden and silvery threads."
"Fresh but familiar" is the phrase Pendleton Woolen Mills uses to describe its ever-changing array of plaid jackets, skirts and pants.
"They are new looking, but they have a familiarity to them," says Pat Fowler, manager of the women's wear division at Pendleton. "We take very familiar plaid layouts, and we use the strong color palette of the season."
Pendleton's current best sellers include a reversible, pleated skirt, available in navy blue or camel brown plaids.
The skirt capitalizes on two current trends: plaids incorporating hues of one color - rather than contrasting colors - and plaids with medium-scale patterns and strong horizontal lines.
"If you integrate plaids in your wardrobe, it gives you more individual expression," Fowler says. "Color is so important in a woman's wardrobe. ... And plaids allow you to have color in your wardrobe.
"Plaids have always been 'preppy,' and 'preppy' has always been in style. As you got older, you called it 'classic.' "
| Playing with plaids |
Trust your eye when wearing plaids.
"If you don't like what you look like in the mirror, then don't go out the door," says Candace Founds, manager of the Sewickley Pendleton shop. "If you don't feel good in it, it doesn't work."
Discovering what works for you, however, is the trick to wearing plaids in a flattering fashion.
"There's not a soul that can't wear some type of plaid, either a scarf, a jacket, a skirt," Founds says. "There are so manyoptions."
Founds offers these tips:
