Grids, Plaids and Windowpanes: Checked Patterns in Menswear and How to Wear Them

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What are Checks?
Checks are defined by horizontal and vertical lines that cross one another at right angles, forming squares or rectangles on the cloth. They are thus always more complex than stripes, which also means they tend to be bolder and more informal. The particular ways these lines intersect and the combinations of colors used to create different named patterns, which we will discuss below, though, for convenience, I will use the word “check” as an umbrella term that includes all patterns that are based on these intersecting lines.
Types of Checks
1. Graph Check
The simplest pattern based on squares is an evenly spaced grid made up of thin lines in a single color, called a “box check” or “graph check” because of its resemblance to graph paper. Graph check usually appears on shirts.
2. Windowpane
Windowpanes have supposedly come back into style in recent years, but true menswear aficionados know it’s a classic pattern that has been around for a long time. Although similar to the graph check, the grid formed by the crossing lines of the windowpane pattern often creates rectangles rather than perfect squares.
3. Tattersall
The same as a graph check but it involves lines of two or more different complementary colors. The lines that make up a tattersall can be of different thicknesses or solidity, being clearly defined or faded back, but the size of the squares they form is always uniform.
4. Gingham
Gingham (sometimes called “Vichy” in Europe) is the simplest of the checks involving thicker lines, in this case, generally a single color crossing on a white background.
5. Shepherd’s Check
Shepherd’s check looks almost like a gingham but is distinguished by the visibility of a twill pattern. That is, you can see diagonal lines intersecting the squares, which makes the pattern more complex.
6. Gun Club Check
Originally, a gun club check meant four colors of crossing lines-black, rust, gold, and green-designed as both an homage to the colors present in the landscape of the Highlands (similar to the nature of tweed) and as a kind of hunter’s camouflage; however, these days, it’s equally common to find gun club checks in only two colors, usually brown and blue.
7. Tartan
The most complex checked pattern in menswear is the tartan or plaid. These are formed by intersecting lines of varying thickness and any number of colors. Though it is not always the case, usually the squares and rectangles on a tartan are different sizes because the space between the lines does not have to be even.
8. Madras
The most famous plaid of non-Scottish origin is madras, an intense, bright, warm weather fabric that isn’t for the man who wants to fade into the background.
9. Glen Check and Prince of Wales
Finally, we have glen check (sometimes also called glen plaid), which I mention last because it isn’t what I would consider a pure check if we are talking only about grids since it admits more than just lines; it also contains varied houndstooth patterns making up the lines and filling the blocks created by them.