Scarves: An Exploration
Four outfits centered all around how to style scarves!
Are scarves a scam? I’ve always struggled to understand their purpose and my imagination could never extend beyond a scarf just being a big square (or rectangle) of leftover fabric that designers rebranded into an expensive accessory. Maybe that negativity comes from never quite figuring out how to incorporate them into my own outfits. I’m re-visiting these opinions as I’m shifting how I view accessories as a decoration and nothing more. Not everything has to be functional! Energy and sentiment have purpose too — I always admired the way my mom tied a scarf around her neck for work each day. One of my favorite memories is coming home after school, opening her scarf drawer, and being greeted by the comforting smell of her perfume. As I grow up I can attribute my own approach to getting dressed and not being intimidated by color to my mom’s fearless style.
So when it comes to scarves, I wanted to develop my own perspective and approach to styling them. After many failed outfit iterations (the fabric just never stays where I want it to!!), I’m sorry to report that scarves still intimidate me more than they inspire me. I’m ultimately really happy with how my outfits came together but I’m not sure I would want to go through the process again. Is that how fashion is supposed to be? If the process was hard, but the end result is good it’s about the destination not the journey? Maybe for this one, we just focus on celebrating the end result (good ideas) and forget about what it took to get here (many, many days of bad outfits).
Below, My Way of Styling Scarves™️ — with a healthy spritz of perfume just like my mom ♡
Scarf as a top! But actually make it secure!
This took some maneuvering and eventually (two days later) I finally figured out a configuration that didn’t require me to adjust the fabric as soon as I moved my arm.
When starting this I knew I wanted to drape this scarf into something beautiful. I pulled the ends around the back and tied it to create this beautiful wrapped draping. I also tucked the sides of the scarf into my bra to make everything cleaner. Brooches are key for securing everything in place!
I have a lot of dresses/tunics that are a tiny bit too short for me to comfortably wear so I wanted to think of a way to extend the length creatively. I really love the idea of finding a combination of scarves + belt that can act as a train for more coverage.
And the movement! It’s so fun to walk around with scarves trailing off your waist.
Mixed prints for chaos!!! Adding another print or texture is one of my favorite purposes for a scarf. My friend Izzi said this looks like Dries Van Noten and that gave me all of the confidence I needed to move forward with this look.
My tip here is you don’t always have to tie the scarf on the corners! It made a huge difference in how the fabric moved and made it so that the scarf was less limiting and dependent on the actual size.
I love lace but have always struggled with the crochet texture feeling too bohemian for my style. I’ve had this scarf for two years now and it has challenged my personal style as I keep trying to incorporate it into my outfits. I love how it looks layered with pants but wanted to lean into the femininity of it this time.
My go-to styling trick is using my underwear as a layering tool and a way to add another color and create a buffer between your top and bottom.
This scarf always goes with me to the beach every summer so I’m happy to integrate it into my real life wardrobe as well.
Hello!!! back to Substack!! I’m trying to commit to two stories a month and love these styling stories to structure my content and challenge myself creatively. Sometimes I feel guilty for neglecting my writing but am reminding myself quality > quantity and my first few weeks being freelance have gone way faster than I thought. I am overwhelmed! And distracted! And happy and grateful!
I finished I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman and loved the book. I went into it with no context about the plot and it has stayed in my mind for a long time. It was disturbing and deeply unsettling in the way that I can’t stop thinking about what to think of the book.
Now I’m reading Famesick by Lena Dunham which I am also really enjoying. I love reading about these early creative circles where all the now successful directors and writers knew each other.
By Line Magazine has this fun article randomizer where you can spin the wheel in the bottom right corner and it gives you a random article from their archive. I think it’s so clever and playful, it reminds me of when Netflix used to just pick a random episode after you choose the TV show.
I’m in Tokyo!!! Then Shanghai!!! More to come on all of that later!!!
yearning for brooch recs!
so chic!