Houndstooth, also known as dogtooth (in French ‘pied-de-poule‘, which translates to ‘hen’s foot’), is a very old pattern, the first examples of which were found in Bronze Age textiles discovered in Austria.
Here is a short history of the houndstooth pattern, with a reference list at the bottom of the post. The featured image shows (l-r): Alexander McQueen Fall 2009, (Di)vision Spring 2023, Coach Spring 2022, and Richard Quinn Spring 2022. All runway images are from Vogue Runway.
One of the first examples of houndstooth that exists is the Gerum Cloak, a brown woolen cloak discovered in Sweden in 1920 dating from between 360 and 100 BC. (Image from [1].)
Between 360 and 100 AD the houndstooth pattern came to be worn in Scotland by shepherds most likely as a type of camouflage, with the pattern making the wearer blend in to their surroundings. For this reason houndstooth is occasionally called ‘shepherd’s check’. (Image from [2].)
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In the 1930s the pattern was adopted in fashion, for example in the men’s suiting by New York City clothing company De Pinna in 1933, and then as seen on Edward VIII, who posed in a houndstooth suit for Vogue in 1934.
Christian Dior later designed houndstooth suits for women which became extremely popular, and the first fragrance by the designer was packaged in houndstooth. (1964 image from [3], 1965 image from [4].)
Houndstooth became popular with celebrities too, being worn by singers and actors such as Patti Smith, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and Pamela Anderson. (Patti Smith image from [5], Pamela Anderson image from [6].)
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Houndstooth continued to appear on the catwalks – Alexander McQueen referenced Dior‘s suiting in his AW2009 collection ‘Horn of Plenty’, while Rei Kawakubo used an exaggerated print motif in her Spring 2022 Comme des Garçons collection.
Other colour combinations are used also – red and white seen here at (Di)vision Spring 2023 and yellow and beige at Delpozo Fall 2018.
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Reference List
London College of Fashion alumna (PGCert Fashion Buying & Merchandising). 15 years in fashion across styling, buying & merchandising, trend forecasting, e-commerce, and marketing. Includes roles at Vivienne Westwood and multi-brand retail stocking 50+ brands including Adidas, Nike, and Puma.
