For the Dior cruise 2025 collection unveiled at Drummond Castle, Maria Grazia Chiuri sparked an inventive dialogue with the British designer Samantha McCoach, who co-founded the label Le Kilt with her grandmother. A portrait by Marie épineuil.
As a child, every Christmas and for every special occasion, Samantha McCoach received the gift of a kilt. But not just any kilt. A piece of history handcrafted by her Italian grandmother, Lena. Lena didn’t speak the language when she moved to Scotland, but she had incontestable sewing skills, which led her to master the art of kilt-making and folding.
When Samantha McCoach left Leith, where she grew up, to study at Edinburgh College of Art1, she kept the habit of wearing the kilts Lena had designed for her. Among them was a Black Watch Tartan originally associated with Highlanders2. Faced with the interest in her personal style, Samantha decided, with her grandmother’s support, to launch her own label, Le Kilt – a name that nods to the cult club in Soho, London – in 2014. “I wanted to create a piece that embodied Scotland’s identity and traditions, and paid tribute to the women who are an integral part of its culture. The fabric is the starting point, and I wanted it to capture the soul of the land in a modern light, combining both its eclectic cities and its fascinating Highlands,” Samantha McCoach explains.
1 In 2008, she continued her studies, earning a Master’s degree at the Royal College of Art.
Her pieces are all sustainably produced, using natural, local materials: “For the Dior kilts, we collaborated with Lochcarron of Scotland, one of the last textile mills in the Scottish Borders, and chose a 100% wool tweed blending wild green, stony grey and peaty brown tones. The punk and rebellious elements symbolize the kilt’s truly subversive spirit: the edges were therefore left raw, but we kept the traditional construction and finish – including the fringes and draping process.”
Maria Grazia Chiuri, who is committed to encouraging the talent of younger generations in the craftsmanship and fashion sectors, could not help but be charmed by the label’s philosophy. Twelve photographs from Christian Dior’s 1955 fashion show at Gleneagles were reinvented in the form of finely woven patches, then affixed along the folds, making the kilt a symbol of interlaced destinies. As the designer confided, “Kilts tell hundreds of stories.”
