Shes someone who can translate a tradition and make it desirable again.
Thats always difficult to do.
And, she added, chuckling, punk is one of the uses of tartan.
Ball at the Gleneagles hotel after the Christian Dior haute couture spring-summer 1955 show, April 30th, 1955.
And thats always something I like.
Because it happened so organically.
I was like… What!
Le Kilt’s Samantha McCoach and her granny.
Le Kilts Samantha McCoach and her granny.
My grandmother Lena is Italian, and she taught me everything about kilts.
When she came over to Edinburgh she couldnt speak English but had all these sewing skills.
Archival photos of Dior’s 1955 show in Scotland.
A kilt-maker on the Royal Mile took her on, McCoach relates.
It gave her financial freedom at the time.
All my childhood, she was making methings out of tartan.
Creating a Dior kilt
So I called granny, said we could do this and Le Kilt got going.
I put on my first presentation in a basement club in Soho, and it was mobbed.
Chiuri also went to McCoach for advice on how to produce an authentic Scottish kilt for Dior.
She introduced us to this great factory, Glenisla Kilts.
Archival photos of Diors 1955 show in Scotland.
Theyre not tartan but in a specifically-woven tweed by Locharran of Scotland.
The edges are unfinished, so theres a bit of a punk element.
For me, a kilt is a garment that tells hundreds of stories.
It should be passed on and cherished, mended, she says.
You move buckles in and out, it can be taken up.
