Reply #9: Here's some background.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

As far as Wallace goes, I believe he was a mutant stoat.

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Heritage/FSCNS/Scots_NS/Thr_Yrs/Kirk_Tartan/KT_Notes_1.html

The obsession with tartans and kilts is of fairly recent origin. We know little or nothing of what Highlanders wore before the abolition and the first ones thereafter were made in the Scottish Lowlands.

The kilt as we know it is also of 19th century origin despite all the romantic hoo ha. The new wave that brought them in was due to the efforts of Sir Walter Scott and others of similar ilk developed in the course of a planned 'Highland' ball in Edinburgh to welcome King William the somethingest. My attitude, however, is even if the tartans had originated just a week ago they remain something uniquely Scottish as does the new kilt in which we can take pride. It was good while in Canada to see that all the Provinces have their own tartans, Nova Scotia naturally being the first to do so with their lovely blue weave.

http://www.majestictech.com/the-celtic-net/kilthistory.html

The tartan kilt has long been the most recognisable cultural tradition of the Highland Scots. Therefore, it surprises most people that many of the most recognisable features and traditions associated with the wearing of the kilt have, in fact, been developed in the nineteenth century, not by Scottish Highlanders, but by the Nobles of England and Scotland.

There is much evidence that many of the more recognisable tartans seen today are in fact creations of Scottish and English tailors during the reign of Queen Victoria. Despite this, it has generally been accepted that the basic concepts of the tartan and the wearing of the kilt do indeed have their origin in the history of the early Scottish and Irish clans, or families. It has been demonstrated that certain clans did aspire to a certain uniformity of design for their garments as early as the tenth and eleventh centuries.

The kilt, or philabeg to use its older Gaelic name, that has now become the standard dress for all "Highlanders", has its origin in an older garment called the belted plaid. The Gaelic word for tartan is breacan, meaning partially colored or speckled, and every tartan today features a multicolored arrangement of stripes and checks. These patterns, or sett's, are used to identify the clan, family, or regiment with which the wearer is associated. Although the kilt is the most recognisable of the tartans, it also manifests itself in the form of trews (trousers), shawls, and skirts.