Taken from "The Edinburgh Evening News" 27 March, 2002.

Final fling for Macpherson’s

All it needed was Robbie Williams to be seen in the Royal Mile making another exhibition of himself in the garment for everyone to be reminded that "the kilt is our delight."

Jimmy Shand certainly believed so, he played that tune often enough.

But Jean Macpherson, who admits she has danced to it in her time, is about to give up the kilt - in retail terms. She has sold thousands of them to customers from all over the world, to the rich and famous, to people of wildly contrasting waistlines and from all walks of life.

Among the shop’s most famous customers are Julia Roberts, who sashayed over the door asking to be fitted with a mini-kilt, Madonna, who wanted an even smaller version for her son Rocco, and 60s rock star Ray Davies of the Kinks.

Now, reluctantly, Jean is about to shut Hugh Macpherson (Scotland) Ltd, the shop her late father Hugh set up in 1947 in West Maitland Street.

A Sutherland crofter’s son, he was a dyed-in-the-heather Scot, who spent only the first 15 years of his life here before emigrating to Canada. But he returned soon after the Second World War to realise a dream. Jean says: "What truly makes it a wrench to be selling up is that I’m painfully aware that, in a way, I’m consigning that dream to oblivion. Considering what the shop meant to my father, it may seem a bit insensitive. However, I don’t feel I’m letting the family tradition down.

"The shop’s been my baby, so to speak, since 1987 when my father died, and I’m retiring early. What’s influenced my decision are the pressures these last couple of years. The strong pound kept tourists away, then came foot-and-mouth and on top of that September 11.

"What’s remarkable, though, is that since December we’ve been barely able to cope, largely through mail order. We opened a website a year ago and we’re seeing results from that too.

"This is a profitable business, make no mistake. Ideally I’d like to see the premises bought by somebody in the same industry."

Jean admits she will forever see the shop as a memorial to her father.

"Everybody predicted he’d be daft opening a shop selling bagpipes, kilts and tartan in the city centre but, of course, it soon brought him a good livelihood.

"He got involved in the Tattoo from its inception and he plunged into local politics in 1957 when he was elected Conservative councillor for Murrayfield and Cramond." Hugh’s consuming interest outside politics and all things tartan was football. He’d been a player in his youth and, on his return, with Tynecastle on his doorstep, he became a Hearts fan.

While Jean is submitting to recent retail "pressures," she readily admits she is going to miss the excitement that went with the job. "You just never knew who’d walk in. Julia Roberts, for example. She was making a film in Edinburgh called Mary Reilly when she came in to be fitted for a mini-kilt. She was absolutely charming, no airs and graces. And she looked stunning in it, as you’d expect.

"We’ve framed Republican senator Trent Lott’s letter expressing his delight at the kilt we made for him in 1990. His mother was a Watson and he’d come back on holiday to her native land from Mississippi.

"We sent a tartan tie to Bill Clinton and his thank-you postcard is also framed. Joan Collins’ granddaughter rang us, wanting a Gordon tartan ribbon that her grand-daughter could wear at Joan’s recent wedding.

"Ray Davies, of the Kinks, came in, swithering about investing in a kilt. He didn’t actually buy but we had him pictured in one. Although Michael Caine and Roger Moore didn’t visit the shop, they wore our Highland outfits for the film Bullseye. Russell Grant popped in to have a kilt made and, far as I know, he’s proud to be seen in it, a mark of his ancestry."

Jean concedes that while she keenly anticipates retirement, she won’t entirely disassociate herself from the shop.

"Certain aspects will allow me to keep my hand in," she says. "A few weeks ago I was at Kirkliston measuring Drambuie’s pipe band for uniforms, I’ve been to Holland on a similar mission several times and I’m honorary president of a pipe band near Paris.

"And there’s also the Clan Macpherson Association with its worldwide connections. I stay in touch with the clan chief, Sir William Macpherson, at Blairgowrie.

"I love Edinburgh and I plan to keep a base here. But I also have a place in Portugal and I’ll spend a lot of time there.

"In fact, I fancy the idea of becoming a tourist guide for the area, encouraging the Portuguese to visit wonderful Scotland and escorting Scots holidaymakers.

"They’ll be able to pick me out from the locals. I’ll be wearing a kilt - though at my age, nothing as skimpy as the one Julia Roberts took home with her."