SCOTLAND is to get a new tartan from a designer whose kilts are already a favourite of pop star Justin Bieber and tennis coach Judy Murray.
The tartan produced by contemporary fashion designer Siobhan Mackenzie will form a key part of the opening ceremony outfit worn by athletes and team members for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in July.
But the new tartan will not be made commercially available - and will become a memento for the athletes and staff of Team Scotland's involvement in the games.
The Black Isle born designer, who launched her self-named label in 2014, when she also had a stint as an alteration technician at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, was snapped up after she pitched for the work.
That came after the Glasgow-bawed kiltmaker co-created the outfits worn by athletes at the Gold Coast in 2018.
Justin Bieber
She is now leading the design of this year’s ensemble.
The tartan is inspired by colours synonymous with both Team Scotland and Birmingham 2022, and will be produced by the Lochcarron Mill in Selkirk. The full outfits will be revealed in the build-up to this summer’s games.
The designer said that she was determined to create a tartan that was not too extravagant, that utilised the colours "subtly" and believed it was a "modern twist" to the traditional formalwear.
The uniform design is no mean feat, coming four years after the 2014 Commonwealth Games uniform – the brainchild of Glasgow textile designer and artist Jilli Blackwood – which polarised public opinion. Comments on Twitter compared the outfits to "a pair of curtains" or "something a 70s dance troupe would wear".
"I designed the women's wear for the Gold Coast games and in 2020, I pitched that I wanted to be involved for the next games. I take nothing for granted," said Ms Mackenzie.
"I started the design process a year ago and just took the the Team Scotland colour palette and worked with that," she said. "It is a bright colour palette to work with it. If you did big sections with all the colours it would be extravagant. You have to create something for all ages and it has to be something that is not OTT.
"The tartan is set on a blue base with fine additions of colour to incorporate the full palette in a sophisticated manner with the isolated yellow line representing Birmingham 2022.
"It is heavily influenced by Scottish landscape."
But it is being designed as a one-off.
"It is something the athletes and staff will only own," she said. "It is memorabilia for them. It is an exclusive tartan."
Ms Mackenzie – named Best New Scottish Designer in 2016 – founded her eponymous design label three years ago with the ambition of re-inventing the kilt has a signature style of alternating tartan and plain block wool pleats to dramatic effect.
She said for the new tartan she injected "fine sections of colour while working with a vivid colour palette, which I’d say represents my style of tartan design, rather than throwing all of the colours together in large sections and creating an avant-garde tartan."
She said she believed it would help showcase the best of Scotland with all eyes on athletes at the opening ceremony.
“Sustainability is an important part of my approach and something that Team Scotland were passionate about reflecting in the design, with all components manufactured locally and using traditional methods where possible," she added.
“It’s great to finally reveal the tartan design and I am looking forward to showing everyone the full outfits as we approach the Games.”
Ms Mackenzie got her first sewing machine at 13 and lessons from a home economics teacher helped hone her craft.
After leaving school, she studied fashion design and production in a joint programme between Manchester Metropolitan University and Glasgow Kelvin College, gaining a first-class honours degree. Her graduate collection was inspired by her Highland heritage and Clan Mackenzie roots.
Elinor Middlemiss, Chef de Mission for Team Scotland, added: “It is great for us to be working with a top-class talent in Siobhan.
“The opening ceremony is such a special occasion, bringing all Commonwealth countries together to kickstart the Games, and we want to make our athletes feel proud to represent their nation on the world stage.
“Our athletes panel have been involved from the outset in the design discussions and we hope the end result from everyone’s efforts is a design that achieves that.”
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