Houndstooth

Houndstooth - a many-faceted investigation as to its origins, history, nomenclature, definitions, newspaper reports, fashion, popular culture, popularity and underlying mathematics

Doubtless readers of this page will be familiar with what is known as the 'houndstooth' tessellation, seen extensively worldwide, as used on a multiplicity of garments and man-made objects. You name it and it's there; coats, blazers, dresses, skirts, outdoor wear, and also and indeed, on numerous other artefacts too; Chevrolet upholstered its Camaro, and novelties to, to name but a few of the many other instances. Indeed, it's so popular that no other tessellation can come anywhere near it in terms of frequency of usage (and so hence one of the many subtitles); any other tessellation used on garments and man-made objects pales in comparison. Typical of female fashion (although indeed also worn by men and was indeed originally the preserve of menswear and not women), it has remained popular since its beginnings in 1925 (or at least as first recorded) and indeed throughout the years to the present day, and of which has aroused my interest in this. Indeed, it has never seemingly gone out of fashion. Upon having seen this frequently in my everyday life on the streets of Grimsby, UK, in c. 2009 (or so as I recall), I then decided to investigate this more extensively in the course of my (wide-ranging) tessellation studies. In short, this is an investigation into its history, popularity, and later, with its underlying mathematics, and encompassing fashion and celebrity. A single page is simply not enough for such an extent. Broadly, for each distinct aspect, I create a dedicated page. This includes an introduction (here), origins, history, nomenclature, definitions, newspaper reports, fashion, popular culture, underlying mathematics and a miscellany, all in various states of development. Simply stated, of such a varied, wide-ranging study, there is so much material, especially from the 1970s onwards, that it is impractical to show 'all', even as an outline or concept. Indeed it is overwhelming! Therefore, this should be borne in mind when reading. Many other worthwhile instances are omitted arbitrarily. My main interest is in the historical aspects, arbitrarily defined as the 1960s and earlier (the earlier the better). This at least permits a modicum of thoroughness, although even here, even for the 1960s, 1950s and 1940s even, there is still an abundance of material to survey. Again, this is not claimed to be all-exhaustive but is at least of a more thorough nature than of the latter-day instances.

An open question is as to how and why this pattern has come to the fore – what explains its undoubted position as the world's most popular tessellation, in terms of usage on a whole variety of fabric material and objects, of which this study attempts to answer, amongst other concerns. As such, I consider that there is no simple answer! In itself, the tessellation is nothing special in terms of its aesthetics, there are other 'simple' instances, such as the Cairo tiling, which is far superior. As such, it seems to have gained a foothold in terms of use as a fabric, of which it is then used as the de facto pattern in that world before expanding to the usage of other objects, from which it was then used subsequently ubiquitously by default.

As such, although the investigation is indeed thorough, this is very much a work still in progress. The full story is still to be told if it ever will be, given the various complexities. And indeed, at the age of 65, I may simply run out of time. Likely, as with other unrelated studies, the sheer extent will overwhelm me and I will become exasperated, and so put this aside for a while. I have previously returned to the topic intermittently, with previous studies of 2009, 2012 and 2015, and now late 2018-early 2019 which leaves the previous studies far behind in all aspects. Indeed, there is no comparison. The latest update, building on its predecessors, is a notable advance in depth, on all aspects. However, there is still much work to do! In particular, this refers to the mathematics, of which I haven't even started (or at least published; I have made minor studies previously). In the meantime, I thoroughly recommend the work of Douglas Blumeyer and Loe Feijs. Both stand head and shoulders above any other mathematical writings. See the page 'Webpages of Interest' for links to their work. As such, given the broad houndstooth spectrum, it is possible to spread oneself a little too thinly here, resulting in not a lot being firmly established or decided in any one topic. To try and avoid this, I have concentrated on the history aspect. Upon completion, or as much as I desire to undertake, I will move on to other matters, such as the mathematics.

Created 9 May 2024. Last Updated 9 May 2024