23. April 2026
How to wear a scarf this season
A quiet update with a lot of impact — whatever your shape, age, and style.
A scarf is one of those rare things, small enough to feel like an accessory, considered enough to change the whole feel of an outfit. This season it's everywhere: bandanas worn close to the face, scarves looped through bag handles, lengths of fabric cinching a simple waist. But this isn’t about whether it's on trend. It's about how it can work for you.
The good news is that it can. The scarf has been part of how we dress for thousands of years, and it's endured precisely because it's so versatile. This isn't about following fashion for its own sake, it's about finding one small way to feel more intentional when you get dressed.
And you may not even need to buy anything. You probably have a scarf in your wardrobe already.
Start with your style personality
The most successful styling decisions begin with knowing who you are rather than chasing what's everywhere. Here's how different style personalities might approach the scarf this season:
Classic and considered
A single-colour bandana, neatly tied, sits beautifully with a streamlined outfit. Or use a smaller, characterful scarf through the handle of your handbag — understated, but personal.
Romantic and expressive
A loosely tied headscarf alongside an oversized blazer has a certain effortless ease. For work, the same scarf threaded through the collar of a blouse brings something quietly distinctive to an otherwise simple look.
Bold and confident
A larger scarf tied at the waist, with a triangle falling at the front transforms a single-colour outfit into something with real intention. This works particularly well when you consider your body shape alongside it (more on that below).
Natural and unfussy
A neckerchief in a colour that matches your top is a way to nod to the trend without disrupting the ease of your usual style. Subtle, but it shows.
If you're not sure where your style personality sits, my wardrobe review and edit service is a good place to begin. Working out your own language for getting dressed makes every decision easier.
Using a scarf to your advantage
Where you tie a scarf draws the eye, so that's worth thinking about in relation to your body shape.
- Around the neck with soft ruffles, draws attention upward, enhancing the shoulders and your top half.
- Around the waist, creates definition and breaks up a single-colour outfit with a focal point.
- As a neat bandana at the front of the head, frames the face and creates a sleek silhouette.
- Loosely tied around the head, brings attention to your upper body. Consider how big your scarf is, a narrower style if you prefer a more understated effect.
My wardrobe edit service includes body shape analysis, so if you'd like a more personal guide to what works for you, that's where we'd start.
A few tips
- Look in your own wardrobe first. You may already own a scarf to update your style this season.
- Charity shops and vintage shops are a great source of unique finds.
- Stay within your colour palette, especially for anything worn close to your face. Colour can work hard for you when it's right, and against you when it's not.
- If you're drawn to the bandana style but feel unsure about it, try adding a little volume to your hair beneath it say with a hair clip, it shifts the proportion entirely.
- Don't overthink it. This is a small piece of fabric. Its job is to complement what you're already wearing, not to reinvent it.
If you'd like to understand your personal colour palette — particularly for pieces worn close to your face — my colour profile service is worth exploring.
A final thought
Getting dressed well isn't about following every trend. It's about building your personal vocabulary, knowing what works for your body, your life, and your sense of self and then adding to it thoughtfully. A scarf can be part of that.
Get in touch to find out more about creating a wardrobe that feels effortlessly, entirely yours.
Main image is from Zara, second image is from a fellow stylist Jo Boyd