Cutting-edge kilt designer Howie Nicholsby has condemned the decision by the organisers of the Dressed to Kilt fashion show in New York to postpone the event until October.
A fortnight from now the events around Tartan Day in the US and Canada will be rebranded Scotland Week, but the Dressed to Kilt fashion show will not be part of the celebrations this year.
The organisers, Friends of Scotland, argued that with celebrity diaries still in disarray after the Holywood writers' strike there would have been problems staging the event in April, and in any case they felt it was better to move it to October when New York fashion week is at the centre of world attention.
But Howie Nicholsby of Edinburgh-based 21st Century Kilts was highly critical of that decision and said he would be taking a smaller fashion show of his own to New York next month because that was the right time to make an impact there.
He said: "Dressed to Kilt was a celebration of Scottishness within the whole idea of Tartan Week or Scotland Week. Put it into New York fashion week and it's just going to get swallowed up completely and will be able to make no impact whatsoever.
"I really think they have shot themselves in the foot with this decision. They have given a series of random reasons for the switch but I really do think it's a diabolical decision. Lot's of students were working towards the event in April when the postponement was announced and a lot of that work will be ruined."
But a spokeswoman for Friends of Scotland said: "Our fashion industry stakeholders have requested we schedule the event more in line with the fashion world calendar. We believe we have made the right choice to establish a new date."
A spokesman for the First Minister said: "Sir Sean Connery will be at Dressed to Kilt which has been rescheduled to October of this year. Sir Sean hosts the event which the Scottish Government supports, and Alex Salmond will be there.
"Although it has been moved because the organisers are indisposed, the two key advantages are that it will take place during New York Fashion Week and it also enables a design competition to take place among students in Scotland beforehand."
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