A former editor at a Scottish daily newspaper has recalled the moment in 1977 when the Bay City Rollers’ fashion influence grew so overwhelming that the paper decided to launch a “Best Tartan Outfit” contest — a promotional idea that started as a joke in the newsroom but quickly became one of the paper’s most talked-about features of the year.
According to the editor, the discussion began on a slow weekday afternoon. Sales staff had been reporting unusual requests from readers asking where they could buy the same patterned scarves, flared trousers, and patchwork jackets worn by the Rollers. Fashion shops across Edinburgh and Glasgow were selling out of tartan items weekly. One reporter joked that at the rate things were going, even dogs would soon be wearing tartan coats.
That offhand remark sparked the idea.
“Someone said, half-serious, ‘We should let people show off their outfits,’” the editor recalled. “Twenty minutes later, we were designing a contest announcement.”
The concept was simple: readers were invited to send in photos of themselves wearing their most creative tartan ensembles. There were no strict rules — scarves, trousers, hats, handmade pieces, anything. The staff expected a few dozen submissions. Instead, they received hundreds within the first three days.
“We had bags of mail piled by the reception desk,” the editor said. “People didn’t just send photos. They sent letters explaining why their outfit mattered.”
Some participants submitted studio portraits taken specifically for the contest. Others mailed in Polaroids taped to construction paper. One family sent a group photo of all five children wearing matching tartan jackets sewn by their grandmother. Another entry came from a factory worker who had customized his work overalls with tartan pockets “so the boys know I’m with them even on my shift.”
The newspaper dedicated an entire conference room to organizing the submissions. Staff pinned photos to cork boards, grouping them into informal categories: “Handmade,” “Most Colorful,” “Best Jacket,” “Tartan With Pets.” The editor remembered walking past rows of smiling faces, each framed in patterns of red, blue, and green.
“It felt less like a fashion contest and more like a community roll call,” he said.
As interest grew, the paper expanded the contest to include weekly features showcasing standout outfits. Readers voted through mailed-in ballots. The Rollers themselves were on tour at the time, but the paper attempted — unsuccessfully — to send them a package of the best entries.
The contest took on a life of its own. Local shops reported customers coming in with clippings of previous weeks’ winners, asking tailors to recreate specific outfits. One boutique owner said the contest alone boosted tartan sales by nearly 40 percent that month.
When the final winner was announced — a teenager wearing a fully handmade tartan suit stitched by her aunt — the paper received nearly 200 congratulatory letters from readers who had never met her but felt connected through the shared enthusiasm.
Looking back, the editor said the contest captured something uniquely 1977: a moment when fashion, fandom, and media collided in a way that felt spontaneous and communal.
“It wasn’t just clothes,” he said. “It was identity. People wanted to be part of the energy the Rollers started. We just gave them a place to show it.”