THE CELTIC CONNECTION'APRIL 1992
Page 11
The Latest Tradition
By LYDIA E. STEWART
The latest trend often comes from the most classic, particularly in fashion: wedding fashions doubly so. As the old taboos have slowly faded from "white wedding or disgrace, tartan has taken its rightful place upon the wedding gown. It be-
fan with European fashion ouses, but the Scots, being a canny bunch, quickly seized the new tradition.
The latest fashion statement a Scottish bride can make is incorporating tartan into her wedding gown. These gowns are only produced in Glasgow, and Edderton, Easter Ross, Scotland. Fairy Godmother Gowns, run by Margaret Hine, and Janet Walkington of Edderton create these sensations to the bride's specifications. Generally, they work with pure silk and Nottingham lace.
Using dancers' weight tartan cloth, they incorporate it into the gown in various ways. One design employs a Bo-Peep-style white taffeta skirt over Royal Stuart tartan. Another uses the tartan more sparingly: a large Dress Gordon bow with a long tail enhances this gown. Yet another is more sparse, incorporating only a three-inch trim of Dress Gordon tartan.
TARTAN FOR TWO
The trend is spreading. One gown, enhanced with tartan in Canada, uses two-inch Dress Stewart tartan polyester ribbon as a trim on the back bow and the peplum. The ribbon's sheen complements the shimmering white taffeta. The ribbon was imported from Scotland by the Scotch Shop on Seymour Street in Vancouver. Scots and Canadians are not the only ones getting into the act; English brides marrying Highlanders are wearing their fiance's tartan as well.
And what do their grooms think? They are embracing both their brides and the tartan phenomenon. Hence, an ancient attire. The Kilt, has made a comeback. Grooms are wearing them in droves. In the past the bride's father might have, but now the groom and his groomsmen are also. An expensive enterprise, you say? Not when you can rent your entire outfit — just like a tuxedo rental.
Before this century, women wore their Sunday best on their wedding day. Their best was often the white dress worn for Scottish Country Dancing and
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the kirk. The bride of yesterday wore a sash of her maiden tartan.
In some parts of Scotland, the wedding ceremony included removing this sash and replacing it with the sash of her new clan. It was draped across one shoulder and fell across the breast like a beauty queen's title. A silver brooch held it in place. Often, the centre of the brooch's elaborate design was a cairngorm. Today, this tradition is no longer practised.
Instead, brides are creating their own traditions. The tartan detailing has become a part of the dress rather than just a symbol of a woman leaving her father to belong to another man. The bride is now demonstrating her independence. With tartan, she proudly boasts that she is an individual whose heritage is a part of her. So, the latest thing is one of the oldest: his and her tartan. Tartan for two, that is.
Scottish Plant Closure Puts 1,200 Out of Work
By JOSEPH MAHER
The new year brought doom and gloom to Lanarkshire when British Steel announced on January 8 the closing of its steel works at Ravenscraig in Motherwell. Effective September 1, about 1,200 jobs will be lost at the mill and probably 1,600 more with subcontractors and supply firms.
The speed of the closure has caused consternation since government ministers and British Steel had promised to keep the plant open until 1994. But profits for the first half of 1990 dropped by £307 million and the continuing global recession has made Ravenscraig's position hopeless.
Originally built by Colville, the British steel maker, the plant was forcibly restructured in the early Sixties by the then Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan, to dovetail with his new centralized economic plans. The firm,
without previous experience with light steel, added a hot strip rolling mill, costing far beyond the company's assets and creating endless financial difficulties.
British Steel was nationalized by the Labour Government, and again privatised in 1988. Lacking government support, the Ravenscraig hot strip mill and the Clydesdale Steel tube works were both closed in 1990, making 2,000 workers unemployed.
Steel, the last symbol of heavy industry in Scotland, is about to disappear. Tommy Brennan, the union convenor, put up a terrific fight against the shutdown but to no avail.
Once, 13,000 men worked at Ravenscraig, now the last 1,200 worry and wait. How will they pay their bills, feed the kids? For the older men, it's probably the dole; the younger ones will most likely move.
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