Farrell: Queen of tartan ups ante with RBC Heritage spirit

Felicia Vairo of Sea Pines loves a good motif.

But not in an overbearing way.

She isn’t the type of person who decides on her “thing” and then buries herself in all manner of that “thing” until the film crew from “Hoarders” is knocking on her door.

No, she applies her motifs tastefully and democratically, offering tokens from her thrifting pursuits to friends and family so that they, too, can get in the spirit of whatever festivity is on the calendar, whether it’s the fully conceived college-themed birthday party she threw for her husband, Peter, or a tea party she planned for her youngest daughter, Emily — complete with silver borrowed and collected from resale stores, and Peter dressed like a butler — or even the upcoming retirement of a neighbor.

(I’ve seen your retirement gift, David Eppinger. Just wear it once for the photos.)

When it comes to the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing golf tournament, Vairo’s passion for a theme kicks into overdrive annually a few weeks before the cannon shot off the 18th green at the Harbour Town Golf Links when she begins to scour local thrift stores and search eBay for anything and everything in Royal Stewart tartan.

“What I love about the tartan,” Vairo told me, “is how it can double for Christmas. Everybody looks good in red: dark hair, blonde. The dogs even look good in red.”

That day all four of her Yorkies — Loki, Sandy, Penny and Frodo — were happily attired in tartan neckerchiefs. Vairo, though on the shorter side, appeared statuesque in a miles-long, pleated tartan kilt that covered her from waist to toe. Her husband was aptly jacketed and capped, and her neighbors, the Eppingers, were similarly styled by Vairo.

Emily, 23, wore a shorter version of her mother’s kilt.

“I mean, look at her,” Vairo said, gesturing to her daughter. “Could she get any cuter?”

Royal Stewart tartan is the personal tartan of Queen Elizabeth II. It is a cousin of Heritage Plaid, which is basically the same but with one yellow bar removed to make it unique to the tournament. Heritage Plaid was designed for officials of the golf tournament and, of course, for the winner’s jacket. It was listed with the Scottish Register of Tartans in 1970 and was originally called Hilton Champion until the current name change in 2000.

Vairo’s eyes are trained to spot iterations of both Royal Stewart tartan and Heritage Plaid tucked among the rummage during her daily thrift store sweep on Hilton Head Island.

For her, the fun is in the hunt. Even something as fleeting as a tartan stripe on a book cover will bring her a small thrill.

Around this time of year, Vairo and her home — and her family and her friends and, again, her dogs — are veritable models for the many ways plaid can be proudly worn.

Here are some of them: as a blazer, as a vest, as a bracelet, as an iPhone cover, as pants, as leggings, as a table runner, as a decorative outdoor flag, on the bike, on the cooler, on rainboots, in the shape of a terrier, as a Ralph Lauren button-up, with a hood, without a hood, ribboned through a basket, as a hat, as trim on a hat, as a koozie and perched on a nose as reading glasses.

“It gives me joy to find these little things,” said Vairo, who keeps a running list of loved ones to shop for and their sizes.

In March 2012, she and her husband moved to Hilton Head from Forest Hills, N.Y.

“We knew nothing about the Heritage,” she said. “We are not golfers. Our Realtor gave us tickets.”

From the minute she heard the call for attendees to “Get Your Plaid On,” though, she was on board.

“I scrambled,” she said about that first year.

Peter wore a seersucker jacket and she found a non-red regular old high school uniform skirt that she thought would fit the theme.

“I didn’t even know I had the wrong plaid,” she laughed.

These days the Vairos are pros. When they walk the course with friends— who are also decked out in tartan, much of it found for them by Felicia — they draw attention and garner many high fives from spectators who also appreciate a good theme.

“You kind of walk a little taller (in the tartan),” Vairo said.

There are even requests for photos with the group.

“We get stopped by all the different reporters,” she said. “RBC has used our images several times.”

Emily Vairo sees the “mad for plaid” hobby as just another expression of her mother’s passion.

“She’s always been really into whatever she does,” Emily said.

Besides tartan, Vairo has also dabbled in Lilly Pulitzer, vintage cooking and baking ware, and is currently on a mission to find interesting coffee table books for her daughter Nicolette’s new apartment in Los Angeles.

One old book she found at a thrift store contained beautiful photos of California’s natural hotspots.

In it was a handwritten letter to someone named “Aunt Mildred” listing all the spots that the gift-giver had visited and why she thinks Aunt Mildred might also like them.

“It’s a lost art,” Vairo said. “It really made the book special. It’ll be a conversation piece.”

Vairo wants her three adult daughters to be likewise driven by what they enjoy.

“I tell them to follow the things they like to do to the fullest extent,” she said.

As for the Heritage, Vairo likes the energy that dressing the part brings to the tournament.

“My bottom line is, if it says ‘Get Your Plaid On’ … then you should make a little effort to get your plaid on.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Farrell: Queen of tartan ups ante with RBC Heritage spirit."