Anonymous asked: Hello, First off I am a huge fan, your knowledge of clothing, pictures, and items for sale, are first rate. However, I have a very simple question: What is the difference between "Gun Club Check" and "Houndstooth" Sorry I was told just like "Prince of Wales" and "Glen Plaid" the two are synonymous, however, I don't believe that is true, could you please enlighten me, Thank you
Hi,
To a certain extent Gun Club and Houndstooth are interchangeable. Gun checks are comprised of houndstooth patterns just as, if you look closely, there is houndstooth (houndsteeth?) in the Glen plaid. To further complicate things, gun club checks and district checks are the same thing, with the Glen plaid being a specific type of district check. District checks originated with the checks signifying a specific district or estate and were worn by the gameskeepers of that estate. Gun Club is a 19th Century American adaptation of the district check, signifying specific shooting clubs instead of estates. Kind of like what America did with the regimental tie.
Practically speaking, I use “houndstooth” to refer to a houndstooth pattern comprised of two colors (black/white and tan/cream being two common examples). Gun Club or district check usually has more than two colors and may also have an overcheck. Hope that doesn’t confuse things further.
As far as I’ve read, Prince of Wales and Glenurquhart Plaid are the same. It’s a district check from Glenurquhart (which is a place in Scotland) but was popularized by The Duke of Windsor (who was also the Prince of Wales before he became king and then abdicated the throne).
