Glen plaid (short for

Glen Urquhart Glenurquhart or Glen Urquhart ( gd, Gleann Urchadain) is a glen running to the west of the village of Drumnadrochit in the Highland council area of Scotland. Location Glenurquhart runs from Loch Ness at Urquhart Bay in the east to Corri ...

plaid Plaid () may refer to: Fabric * Full plaid, a cloth made with a tartan pattern, wrapped around the waist, cast over the shoulder and fastened at the front * A synonym for tartan in North America * A plaid shirt, typically of flannel and worn du ...

), also known as Glenurquhart check or Prince of Wales check, is a

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

len

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not ...

with a

woven Woven fabric is any textile formed by weaving. Woven fabrics are often created on a loom, and made of many threads woven on a warp and a weft. Technically, a woven fabric is any fabric made by interlacing two or more threads at right angles to on ...

twill Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs. It is one of three fundamental types of textile weaves along with plain weave and satin. It is made by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads then ...

design of small and large checks. It is usually made of black/grey and white, or with more muted colours, particularly with two dark and two light stripes alternate with four dark and four light stripes which creates a crossing pattern of irregular checks. Glen plaid as a woven pattern may be extended to cotton

shirt A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. ...

ing and other non-woollen fabrics.

Name

The name is taken from the valley of Glenurquhart in

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in popula ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, where the checked wool was first used in the 19th century by the New Zealand-born Countess of Seafield to outfit her gamekeepers, though the name ''Glen plaid'' does not appear before 1926. Glen plaid is also known as the Prince of Wales check, as it was popularized by King Edward VIII when he was

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

. In other words, despite its internationally known name (French ''prince de Galles'', Spanish ''príncipe de Gales'', Italian ''principe di Galles'', etc.), the "Prince of Wales" fabric pattern is not a Welsh pattern but a Scottish one.

Notable wearers

Pee-wee Herman Pee-wee Herman is a comic fictional character created and portrayed by American comedian Paul Reubens. He is best known for his films and television series during the 1980s. The childlike Pee-wee Herman character developed as a stage act that q ...

is famous for his light grey Glen plaid suit, and US President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

was considered "unpresidential" in a gray-and-blue Glen plaid suit on a European trip in 1982. Hugh Sidey, "Live Men Do Wear Plaid"
/ref>

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...

wore an iconic grey Glen plaid suit in the 1959 American spy thriller film ''

North By Northwest ''North by Northwest'' is a 1959 American spy thriller film, produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture ...

''.

References

Textile patterns Scottish clothing {{textile-stub

Name

Notable wearers

See also

References