When thinking about high fashion, you could be forgiven for your mind not immediately turning to the kilt. No disrespect intended – we love a bit of Scottish tradition, and have unwavering admiration for those up in the Highlands wearing them with nothing underneath. But the young Scottish designer Samantha McCoach is starting to change our preconceptions with her label Le Kilt, founded in 2014.

To get a bit more of an insight into modern kilts (admittedly not something we are particularly well-versed in), Because caught up with Samantha. She tells us about her grandmother, who was a traditional kilt maker up in Edinburgh. “In Scotland when you buy a kilt, you’d probably get one for your twenty-first birthday, and it’s something that stays with you forever,” Samantha explains, “it’s quite an investment piece, and not necessarily a fashion piece.” Those were the types of kilts that her grandmother made on the Royal Mile, and Samantha grew up surrounded by tartan.

Samantha finished her MA at the Royal College of Art in 2010, and launched into designing menswear at Fred Perry. One Christmas she started wearing a traditional black watch kilt her grandma had made her: “every time I wore it somebody asked me how they could get one. So I started making them for friends, and it just went from there really,” Samantha tells us. Working with tartan was a happy accident, “it honestly just started as a hobby, it started as something to do on the side of my work.” She soon realised that there was a definite gap in the market that she could fill with her kilts.

Le Kilt’s skirts are inspired by the traditional craft, but are as contemporary as it gets. Classic Scottish tartan creations are typically made out of a monumental 7 metres of material, but Samantha’s are much easier to move around in. The name of the label comes from the eighties Soho club, and Shirley Manson is one of Samantha’s idols. This means that being able to dance is a key consideration in her designs. Samantha argues that tartan has a long-lasting appeal: it has “a real association with all sorts of punk subcultures, from classic sixties subcultures and into modes and also into punk,” she continues, “it’s never going away.”

Traditional Scottish influences with a punk Eighties twist? Not your average fashion label. But then again, the kilt isn’t your average piece of clothing.

Text by Prudence Wade