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The History of the Madras Check
With roots right back to 13th Century India and the current renaissance for all things Preppy, Madras check has become a recurring feature of Lyle & Scottspring summer collections.
The name ‘Madras’ is taken from the Indian city of Madras (now known as
Chennai) where the style was invented. Historians claim that Madras cloth originates from 1200s and was made of yarn that had been spun from the tip-skin of ancient trees. This evolved in to a more refined cotton that was very light weight and airy making it perfect for sweltering Indian summers. Traditionally Madras check shirts were coloured using vegetable dyes and woven into stripes and checks. The story goes that the check designs were inspired by the tartan plaids of the Scottish regiments that occupied southern India in the 1800s.
The dyes used in the past were not colourfast, which meant that the colours would bleed when washed and create new effects with each laundering. When these shirts were first introduced to the American market, around the 1930s, there was huge dismay that the fabrics ran meaning there were a lot of returns and quality complaints from customers. It took some careful re-marketing, but eventually the
bleeding effect became a highly prized feature. A little like wearing in good denim, the evolution of a well-worn Madras to a muted, sun-soaked palette is now viewed as a charming distinguishing feature of the style.
Madras began to be enshrined in the “preppy” look in the 1960s when Madras shirts, shorts and blazers or jackets became popular on the campuses of Ivy League schools in the States. Particularly popular were the cut and sew shorts which were traditionally from 3cm squared swatches of different Madras checked material and sown together for a patchwork effect.
The Lyle and Scott Spring 2012 collection has captured the essence of the
traditional
Madras check with a classic short sleeved shirt in the Heritage range. The
less well known Madras stripes can be found on the Vintage short sleeved shirt and matching summer shorts. The typical madras style plaids and checks can also be found on modernized and seasonal checked shirts and of course there is the Ivy League campus staple: cut and sew madras shorts.
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