houndstooth
{{Short description|Two-color broken check pattern}}
{{for|the plant used commonly known as Houndstooth|Cynoglossum officinale}}
Houndstooth is a pattern of alternating light and dark checks used on fabric. It is also known as hounds tooth check, hound's tooth (and similar spellings), dogstooth, dogtooth or dog's tooth. The duotone pattern is characterized by a tessellation of light and dark solid checks alternating with light-and-dark diagonally-striped checks—similar in pattern to gingham plaid but with diagonally-striped squares in place of gingham's blended-tone squares. Traditionally, houndstooth uses black and white, although other contrasting colour combinations may be used.
History
The oldest Bronze Age houndstooth textiles found so far are from the Hallstatt Celtic Salt Mine, Austria, 1500-1200 BC.{{Cite web |url=https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Rudolfinum_2006_0013-0022.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2022-03-22 |archive-date=2022-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407060856/https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Rudolfinum_2006_0013-0022.pdf |url-status=live }} One of the best known early occurrence of houndstooth is the Gerum Cloak,{{cite web|url=http://historiska.se/upptack-historien/artikel/farganalys/|title=Gerumsmanteln-Färganalys - Historiska Museet|website=historiska.se|access-date=2017-07-05|archive-date=2018-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306024652/http://historiska.se/upptack-historien/artikel/farganalys/|url-status=live}} a garment uncovered in a Swedish peat bog, dated to between 360 and 100 BC.{{cite web|url=http://historiska.se/upptack-historien/artikel/gerumsmanteln/|title=Sveriges äldsta bevarade klädesplagg - Historiska Museet|website=historiska.se|access-date=2017-07-05|archive-date=2018-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306082806/http://historiska.se/upptack-historien/artikel/gerumsmanteln/|url-status=live}} Contemporary houndstooth checks may have originated as a pattern in woven tweed cloth from the Scottish Lowlands,Dunbar, John Telfer: The Costume of Scotland, London: Batsford, 1984, {{ISBN|0-7134-2534-2}}, 1984 (paperback 1989, {{ISBN|0-7134-2535-0}}) but are now used in many other woven fabric aside from wool. The traditional houndstooth check is made with alternating bands of four dark and four light threads in both warp and weft/filling woven in a simple 2:2 twill, two over/two under the warp, advancing one thread each pass. In an early reference to houndstooth, De Pinna, a New York City–based men's and women's high-end clothier founded in 1885, included houndstooth checks along with gun club checks and Scotch plaids as part of its 1933 spring men's suits collection.{{cite magazine |year=1933 |title=Gun Club Checks |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=9 |page=28 |publisher=New Yorker Magazine, Inc. |oclc=1760231 |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=+De+Pinna+invites+attention+to+men%27s+suits+for+spring+in+a+most+interesting+range+of+Gun+Club+Checks%2C+Scotch+Plaids%2C+and+Houndstooth+&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks |access-date=October 9, 2011 |archive-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223011452/https://www.google.com/search?q=+De+Pinna+invites+attention+to+men%27s+suits+for+spring+in+a+most+interesting+range+of+Gun+Club+Checks%2C+Scotch+Plaids%2C+and+Houndstooth+&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks |url-status=live }} The actual term houndstooth for the pattern is not recorded before 1936.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Houndstooth |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/houndstooth#h1 |dictionary=Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=3 September 2019 |archive-date=9 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209204524/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/houndstooth#h1 |url-status=live }}
Oversized houndstooth patterns were also employed prominently at Alexander McQueen's Fall 2009 Collection, entitled Horn of Plenty.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/fashion/12MCQUEEN.html?_r=0 |title=McQueen Leaves Fashion in Ruins |author=Eric Wilson |date=11 March 2009 |website=New York Times |access-date=2 November 2015 |archive-date=14 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314020111/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/fashion/12MCQUEEN.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }} The patterns were a reference to Christian Dior's signature tweed suits.{{cite web |url=http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2009-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen |title=Fall 2009 Ready-to-Wear Alexander McQueen |author=Sarah Mower |date=10 March 2009 |website=Vogue|access-date=2 November 2015 |quote=The clothes were, for the most part, high-drama satires of twentieth-century landmark fashion: parodies of Christian Dior houndstooth New Look and Chanel tweed suits [...] |archive-date=12 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612185250/http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2009-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen |url-status=live }}
Houndstooth patterns, especially black-and-white houndstooth, have long been associated regionally with the University of Alabama (UA). This is because the longtime UA football coach Bear Bryant often (though not exclusively) wore black-and-white houndstooth fedoras.{{cite web |url=https://www.universitysupplystore.com/a_7_2011_7.asp |title=Houndstooth, the Bear, and the University of Alabama |author=University of Alabama Supply Store |website=University Supply Store |access-date=January 7, 2021 |archive-date=January 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109211233/https://www.universitysupplystore.com/a_7_2011_7.asp |url-status=live }} The university has attempted to assert a trademark for houndstooth, especially when used in conjunction with other symbols of the school and its football team, a legal strategy that has been largely unsuccessful.{{cite web |url=https://www.al.com/sports/2013/11/university_of_alabama_fights_u.html |title=Who has a right to use houndstooth? University of Alabama fights, even without a trademark |author=Jon Solomon |date=November 13, 2013 |website=Alabama Media Group |access-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112190855/https://www.al.com/sports/2013/11/university_of_alabama_fights_u.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2016/03/trademark_board_tosses_houndst.html |title=Trademark board tosses Alabama houndstooth opinion but fight may continue |author=Kent Faulk |date=March 9, 2016 |website=Alabama Media Group |access-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124015015/https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2016/03/trademark_board_tosses_houndst.html |url-status=live }}
The Australian department store David Jones' branding—a black-on-white houndstooth pattern—is one of the most recognised corporate identities in Australia. A government-sponsored panel judged it in 2006 as one of Australia's top-10 favourite trademarks.{{cite web |publisher=Australian Government |title=IP Australia - Trademarks Centenary 2006 |url=http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/tmcentenary/top10.html |year=2006 |access-date=18 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724050507/http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/tmcentenary/top10.html |archive-date=24 July 2008}} The iconic design was the result of a 1967 rebranding exercise by chairman Charles Lloyd Jones, Jr., who wished that the store would be so well known by the design as to not require the use of the name on the packing. It was allegedly inspired by the houndstooth design on a Miss Dior perfume bottle belonging to his mother, Hannah Jones.{{cite news|last=McGinness|first=Mark|title=Name synonymous with DJs|url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/name-synonymous-with-djs-20100716-10eby.html|access-date=10 June 2013|newspaper=The Age|date=17 July 2010|archive-date=4 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204204620/http://www.theage.com.au/national/name-synonymous-with-djs-20100716-10eby.html|url-status=live}} On 25 July 2016, David Jones introduced a new logo, with a revised font style, and removed references to the houndstooth online.
Variations
A smaller-scale version of the pattern can be referred to as puppytooth.{{cite web |title=Style hints & tips, everything a gentlemen needs to know about style - Charles Tyrwhitt |url=http://www.ctshirts.co.uk/Dogtooth-pattern?cnt=dogtooth-pattern |website=www.ctshirts.co.uk |access-date=2011-09-18 |archive-date=2014-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910090431/http://www.ctshirts.co.uk/Dogtooth-pattern?cnt=Dogtooth-pattern |url-status=live }}
In Pop-Culture
Ricky, from the popular Canadian comedy franchise "Trailer Park Boys", can often be seen wearing a houndstooth button up shirt. It has become an unofficial branding element for the series, with different merchandise featuring the pattern.{{cn|date=January 2025}}
Gallery
File:Red-white-houndstooth.jpg|Red and white houndstooth pattern
File:写真が暗かったので明るめに修正。 (21350688009).jpg|A colored houndstooth dress
File:Houndstooth check weave.png|Weaving a small-scale houndstooth check in a 2:2 twill
File:1970 Holden HG Monaro GTS 4.2 litre coupe (7762417790).jpg|A car interior with houndstooth pattern upholstery
File:Houndstooth SVG.svg|A single element of the pattern
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|position=left}}
{{fabric}}