Scotland's Fusty Pringle Retakes Fashion

With a talented designer and new American CEO, the once-dowdy purveyor of argyle cashmere made famous by Grace Kelly returns to London Fashion Week

By Margareta Pagano

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Award-winning Pringle of Scotland designer Clare Waight Keller.

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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.

The Pringle Macaire wears today is edgy; the creation of her award-winning designer, Clare Waight Keller, who has been quietly transforming this fusty, Scottish, heritage brand into a trendy must-have fashion.

Now Macaire is ready to trumpet to the world just how much Pringle has changed. For tomorrow night, Pringle's models will strut the catwalk at London Fashion Week for the first time in years, and she'll be sitting in the front row beside the brand's new face, actress Tilda Swinton, and top photographer Ryan McGinley along with the fashion world's glitterati.

No wonder she's a little excited when we meet in her tiny, white-walled office above the Sloane Street store where the design team is buzzing around getting ready for the big blitz. Putting Pringle back in the spotlight at London is a big gamble, and not just for Macaire, who has only been chief executive for a year. Considering the financial climate and Pringle's continuing losses, it's a brave move for the company.

But she's convinced it's the right one: "If you aren't there in your own backyard then you can't expect to be great outside it. Pringle has changed so much but no one knows. That's our biggest problem and it's what I am most keen to deal with.

But, she says with another giggle: "There's always the risk we will be trashed by the press. But I hope not. It's important we are in London and we are over the moon to be with great British houses like Burberry (BRBY.L) and Matthew Williamson. "All the buzz should help us too." Although the big buyers won't be in London—because they are waiting for the Milan and Paris shows—she's sure they will see pictures of the collection. "We need those retailers in Milan and Paris to see what the new Pringle is all about."

As she talks, she pulls out a folder of pictures from the latest shoot and a short film, both by McGinley, of Swinton at Nairn in Scotland, the actress's home. They are for next winter's advertising campaign, so they are still under wraps. Having been sworn to secrecy, all I can say is that they mix that old Scottish heritage with the new in the most stunning way. It's a fickle world, this fashion one, where every twist and twirl is watched with radar eyes.

Then there's the T-shirt twinset campaign, with Glasgow artist David Shrigley, advertising Pringle's signature twinset—which, ironically, everyone thinks was invented by Chanel.

So what on earth persuaded Macaire to move from the great Chanel—where she had been for 22 years—to this little Scottish company? Macaire doesn't hesitate: "Pringle is a really great luxury brand and I'm a luxury girl. So it didn't take me long to decide that restoring such a wonderful heritage was perfect for me. I like to use both sides of my brain—the creative and the analytical."

While at Chanel, she had already had her eye on Pringle, having spotted a knitwear tunic in a magazine several years ago that she failed to track down anywhere. When the head-hunter called, not only was she ready, she understood part of the problem too—distribution.

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