the patterns were simply different regional checked-cloth patterns, chosen by the wearer's preference—in the same way as people nowadays choose what colours and patterns they like in their clothing, without particular reference to propriety. it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that many patterns were created and artificially associated with scottish clans, families, or institutions who were (or wished to be seen as) associated in some way with a scottish heritage. the victorians' penchant for ordered taxonomy and the new chemical dyes then available meant that the idea of specific patterns of bright colours, or "dress" tartans, could be created and applied to a faux-nostalgic view of scottish history.