Have kilt, will travel as McConnell hits LA

Published on Monday 16 October 2006 00:44

ONCE bitten, Jack McConnell tried to shy away from further style mishaps when he arrived in Los Angeles to promote Scotland at a gala Dressed to Kilt event.

Having been ridiculed for his dress sense in the past, the First Minister took no chances and wore a more traditional Locharron-designed kilt as he joined Rod Stewart's daughters Kimberly and Alana for the show to launch LA's Fashion Week.

Also attending the event were Extras star Ashley Jensen, rugby player Chris Cusiter and actresses Linda Hamilton and Patricia Arquette.

Dressed to Kilt, which promotes the Scottish textile industry, has been a fixture of Tartan Week in New York since 2003. Taking the event to LA for the first time this year, promoters scored a coup by securing the opening event at the city's Fashion Week.

Mr McConnell said: "Dressed to Kilt is a lot of fun but there is also a strong business side to it. There are nine Scottish textiles companies involved in this show, which is kicking off LA Fashion Week. This is a major coup for Scotland."

The companies participating include some of Scotland's leading fashion and knitwear brands such as Locharron of Scotland, Mackintosh Rainwear and Begg Scotland.

The New York Dressed to Kilt events are organised by the Friends of Scotland charity and have generated publicity worth about 2 million over the past two years.

By promoting themselves in LA, the companies are hoping to break into the lucrative west coast market. Kirsty Scott, manager of the Scottish Textiles team at Scottish Enterprise, said: "Dressed to Kilt provides huge opportunities to raise the profile of Scottish companies to a very influential audience."

Saturday's Dressed to Kilt event marked the beginning of Mr McConnell's week-long trip to the US. Today, he is expected to unveil details of a five-year plan to strengthen Scotland's relationship with the US.

Over the next three years, Mr McConnell wants to increase the number of people applying to work or study in Scotland under the Fresh Talent initiative by ten per cent. He also want so bring an additional 10,000 tourists to Scotland each year, generating revenue of about 50 million.

The First Minister will also be touring leading schools in LA, San Francisco and Washington DC to see if their practices can improve Scotland's education system. Mr McConnell said he wanted to "stretch our best pupils so they become the best of the best".

He will be accompanied on his trip by Graham Donaldson, the chief inspector of schools, and Iain McMillan, director of CBI Scotland.

The schedule also includes meeting local politicians. However, Mr McConnell will not meet California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will be busy campaigning for forthcoming elections.

No more fashion faux pas - Jack plays it safe

SCOTLAND'S style brigade breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as Jack McConnell once more opted for a more traditional form of dress.

At Dressed to Kilt in New York two years ago, left, the First Minister's decision to wear a sporran-less, slightly-too-short pinstripe kilt matched with a white ghillie was hailed as the fashion crime of 2004.

Perhaps still living down the shame, Mr McConnell was absent from the 2005 event. On that occasion, it was Micheline Connery, wife of Sir Sean, who raised eyebrows by wearing a sporran with black trousers, a bleach-white mini-jacket and tartan tie.

Returning to the event in New York in April this year, the First Minister chose a subdued charcoal grey, two-button Argyle jacket to wear with his traditional kilt.