Scotland's Fusty Pringle Retakes Fashion

Mary-Adair Macaire is perfectly turned out; dainty as a bird, dressed in black, very chic, very classy, her long auburn hair parted fashionably far to one side. Her one adornment is a big green and red jewelled brooch pinned to her whippet-thin waist, and thick gold rings on her finely manicured fingers.

When I ask if it's Chanel she's wearing, Macaire ticks me off with one of her giggles: "No, of course not. How could I? It's Pringle. I wear as much Pringle as I can." It's not the Pringle of Scotland that most of us remember though—those Argyle patterned sleeveless jumpers made famous by royalty and then kitsch by golfers. Or the cashmere twinsets that Pringle invented and Grace Kelly made so desirable but which became dowdy when worn by women of a certain age in a certain era.