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6. Masculinities, Colour, Dyeing and the Design of Tweeds 1829–1914

Fiona Anderson (author)

Chapter of: Colour Matters: Exploring Chromatic Materialities in the Long Nineteenth Century (1798-1914)

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Title	6. Masculinities, Colour, Dyeing and the Design of Tweeds 1829–1914
Contributor	Fiona Anderson (author)
DOI	https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0501.06
Landing page	http://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0501/chapters/10.11647/obp.0501.06
License	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Copyright	Fiona Anderson
Publisher	Open Book Publishers
Published on	2026-05-11
Long abstract	Tweeds were originally designed and worn almost exclusively for menswear. This chapter investigates the impact of gender, landscape, sport, Romanticism and fashion on the development of the newly colourful Scottish woollen designs for menswear, which by the 1830s had become known as tweeds. It explores for the first time how Scottish mill-based tweed producers engaged with new developments in dye chemistry between 1858 and 1914. By so doing, it extends the published literature on artificial dyes, fashion and colour in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which has principally focused on womenswear textiles. Based on material culture and interdisciplinary research, this chapter examines the complex and shifting relationships between colour, design, dyeing techniques, masculinities and fashion in Scottish mill-based tweed production. It challenges the lingering acceptance of the Flugellian idea that nineteenth-century textiles for menswear were exclusively dyed in black, or dark colours that were singularly expressive of austere and ascetic masculine ideals.
Print length	24 pages
Language	English (Original)
THEMA	AGA PDX NHTB DSBF JHMC
BISAC	ART015260 HIS054000 SCI034000 LIT004130 DES003000 SOC002010
Keywords	Colour studies Material culture History of science Art history (long nineteenth century) Pigments and dyes Empire and identity

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Contributors

Fiona Anderson

(author)

Reader in Design History and Theory at Glasgow School of Art

Fiona Anderson is a Reader in Design History and Theory at Glasgow School of Art. She was formerly Senior Curator of Fashion and Textiles at National Museums Scotland. Fiona’s principal research interests are in wool textiles, gender and design, and textiles and masculinities. Her published research includes the book Tweed (2017) for Bloomsbury Academic, which was the main outcome of an AHRC Fellowship. Fiona is a steering-committee member of the ‘Tailoring for Women’ research project, which is part of the Apparences, Corps et Societés trans-European Research Group based at the University of Lille.

References

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Tweeds were originally designed and worn almost exclusively for menswear. This chapter investigates the impact of gender, landscape, sport, Romanticism and fashion on the development of the newly colourful Scottish woollen designs for menswear, which by the 1830s had become known as tweeds. It explores for the first time how Scottish mill-based tweed producers engaged with new developments in dye chemistry between 1858 and 1914. By so doing, it extends the published literature on artificial dyes, fashion and colour in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which has principally focused on womenswear textiles. Based on material culture and interdisciplinary research, this chapter examines the complex and shifting relationships between colour, design, dyeing techniques, masculinities and fashion in Scottish mill-based tweed production. It challenges the lingering acceptance of the Flugellian idea that nineteenth-century textiles for menswear were exclusively dyed in black, or dark colours that were singularly expressive of austere and ascetic masculine ideals.