Prime Highlights:
- Tartan is returning as a popular choice in both home décor and fashion, blending traditional Scottish heritage with modern design.
- Designers highlight its versatility and warmth, making it perfect for interiors, clothing, and creative projects.
Key Facts:
- Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularized tartan in the 1800s at Balmoral Castle, inspiring a trend called the “Balmorization” of British design.
- In the 1990s, Ralph Lauren helped bring tartan into American homes, turning it into a symbol of style and luxury.
Background:
Tartan is making a comeback in fashion and home décor, combining tradition with modern style.
Today, tartan’s comeback is unfolding across fashion houses and interior design studios alike. After Dior spotlighted reworked tartans and tweeds at its showcase in Scotland last year, major brands including Celine, Valentino, Ferragamo, Loro Piana, and Bottega Veneta have leaned into a broader countryside aesthetic. Homeware brands such as Hill House Home and Boden have followed suit, featuring lively tartan-based collections this season.
Interior designers say the shift away from stark minimalism toward warm, layered, and colorful rooms has made tartan newly relevant. Designers report a surge in client requests for the fabric, citing its durability, family-friendly practicality, and ability to harmonize multiple colors within a space.
“The repeat and variation in tartan naturally hide wear and stains, making it ideal for busy homes,” says Houston-based designer Katie Davis. Others highlight tartan’s ability to tie together a room’s entire palette. Some designers even use it on ceilings or statement walls, treating the grid as a visual anchor.
Beyond aesthetics, many designers note that tartan carries a sense of stability at a time when people are craving comfort and connection to heritage.
“In turbulent periods, people often return to the familiar,” says Houston designer J. Randall Powers. Mhairi Maxwell of the National Museum of Scotland agrees, pointing to tartan’s deep cultural associations with rural life, craftsmanship, and resilience.
The renewed interest has also opened the door to experimentation. Manufacturers are producing tartans in unexpected colorways, turquoise, lavender, orange, lime, indigo, and more, while designers use the cloth on lampshades, rugs, and modern furniture.
Yet, despite the innovation, many still view floor-to-ceiling tartan-clad rooms as the ultimate expression of the style. “Everything looks better on tartan,” notes veteran designer Tony Baratta.
For all its royal and aristocratic ties, tartan has always been a textile of the people, worn historically by Highland laborers as well as landowners. Its complex history includes periods of suppression, reinvention, rebellion, and reintegration.
Today, tartan represents many things at once: tradition, style, skill, comfort, and identity. Designers say this is why it remains so popular.
