Kilts on the catwalk

Like many guests at the Met Ball which launched the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition earlier this month, Hamish Bowles, the US Vogue editor at large, opted to wear vintage 2006 McQueen. Photograph: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

The fashion-obsessed teenagers of the Harajuko district of Japan have an unfaltering fondness for tartan. There the fabric is usually contrasted with materials such as lace to punk effect. The style template is Vivienne Westwood – herself a major tartan acolyte. Photograph: Galit Seligmann/Alamy

Sarah Jessica Parker gave tartan a boost when she wore this McQueen dress to the Costume Insitute ball in 2006. Notably, it was before the SATC film franchise when the name Carrie Bradshaw still carried fashion kudos. Photograph: Matt Baron/BEI / Rex Features/Matt Baron/BEI / Rex Features

The New York designer Marc Jacobs wore a kilt to honour McQueen at the Met ball gala. Jacobs is a sworn fan of kilts – often taking his post catwalk bow wearing one, which he usually teams with a crisp white shirt and Doc Martens. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Henry Holland left his slogan T-shirts behind with his 2008 Highland collection featuring a mauve-and-yellow fake House of Holland tartan, specially woven in Scotland. Agyness Deyn’s tartan eye-patch was born out of practicality not sartorial wit – it was created to cover up the model’s eye infection. Photograph: Rosie Greenway/Getty Images

Alexander McQueen, the late designer with Scottish roots, arguably did more for the image of tartan than anyone on the catwalk. He began his career with the controversial “Highland Rape” collection in 1995. In 2006 his collection (pictured) revisited the themes of Scottish heroines wandering the glens wearing tartan crinolines and antler headdresses. Photograph: MICHEL EULER/AP

Christopher Kane, the much-lauded designer, is based in London but remains fiercely proud of his Scottish roots. Born in North Lanarkshire he has taken his tartan heritage over to Milan. Last autumn his Versus collection for the Milanese house of Versace featured bold tartan in garish colours. Photograph: Catwalking.com

In 2009, Tilda Swinton, the actor known for her sleek and sometimes androgynous sense of style, became the face of the 197-year-old Scottish brand Pringle. Tilda wearing Argyle, shot by Ryan McGinley in the Scottish highlands, represents Scottish fashion as both nostalgic and poetic. Photograph: PR company handout

Rei Kawakubo – the designer responsible for the left-field Japanese label Comme des Garçons – has an enduring fondness for tartan. It appears regularly on the label’s catwalk – in deconstructed and architectural shapes. Photograph: Steve Wood/Rex Features

Balmoral was the unexpected inspiration for design duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana at their autumn/winter 2008 show. Tartan kilts and matching blazers worn with silk headscarves were a reference to HM Queen’s Highland wardrobe. Photograph: Venturelli/WireImage