Amongst the guests who are assembling today for the cruise show at Drummond Castle in Scotland are the young Scottish designer of Le Kilt , who’ll be sitting alongside her Italian grandmother Lena. Sam has been brought in by Maria Grazia Chiuri as the latest woman collaborator to weave her own thread—manifested in a couple of edgily offbeat tweed kilts—into the rich tapestry of Dior’s connections with Scotland. McCoach’s Le Kilt, originally inspired by an early-1980s New Romantics London club night, is an almost uncannily perfect fit for the element of youthful street-relevance Chiuri embeds in her collection.
“Her goal was to move this tradition for a new generation, and I think she did it very well—it’s cute and young, fresh and very elegant too,” said Chiuri on a call from Edinburgh, where she was prepping before the collection was trucked 50 miles north to the gardens of the 17th-century castle in Perthshire. “She’s someone who can translate a tradition and make it desirable again. That’s always difficult to do.
And,” she added, chuckling, “punk is one of the uses of tartan. And that’s always something I like.” “It’s wild!” exclaimed McCoach, who started her micro-specialist brand of high quality Scottish made-kilts, cashmere sweaters, and berets with a street-spin 10 years ago.
“Because it happened so organically. Maria Grazia’s daughter Rachele knew about Le Kilt because apparently she bought one of my kilts back when I started..