6 Ways to Style a Silk Scarf

I’ve been bookmarking a slew of silk scarves lately (this one / this one / this one / and this one in mineral blue to name a few), so I thought it would be fun to put together a handful of unique ways to wear one. With the help of my beautiful sister-in-law Amanda, who was kind enough to model for these photos and help me come up with the looks, we put together six unique ways to wear a silk scarf (with tutorials for each).

There were a lot of giggles and some definite trouble shooting throughout the process, but we ironed out the kinks and have tried to describe things in as much detail as possible. Some of these are really easy and a few are a bit more difficult. But you can handle it. Don’t worry! And if you’re having trouble, pick up a bottle of wine and invite a friend over so you can practice. I’ll let you know which ones are the most difficult.

P.S. Before we get started, the scarf we used for this shoot is Karen Walker in case you are wondering. And you’ll need a square scarf for all of these tutorials.

1. Tied Up in a Bow

How to recreate this look: Start by folding your scarf into a long rectangle. Grab each point on the end of your rectangle (one with each hand) and bring the middle (in between your two hands) to the back of your head. Wrap the points around to the front and tie it in a bow.

Level of difficulty: Easy

2. Girlie Ascot

How to recreate this look: Fold your scarf into a long, skinny rectangle and treat it like an untied tie. Start going through the steps of tying a tie (four in hand knot works just fine), but before you loop the top piece into the knot to finish up, stop. Do not complete that last step. Just let the top piece of your scarf flop over the top and style to your liking.

Level of difficulty: Pretty easy – if you can tie a tie, you won’t have any trouble with this one.

3. Knotted Twist

How to recreate this look: Fold your scarf into a long but wide rectangle. Grab each point on the end of your rectangle (one with each hand) and bring the middle (in between your two hands) to the back of your head – just like you did for #1 Tied Up in a Bow. Instead of knotting the two points though, twist the points around each other and then tuck each point underneath the top and bobby pin it for extra security throughout the day.

Level of difficulty: Easy – grab some bobby pins though.

4. Modern Cowboy

How to recreate this look: Fold your scarf in half to form a triangle not a rectangle. Grab the two points with the longest distance between them, wrap it around to the back of your neck and tie in a double knot.

Level of difficulty: SO easy.

5. Knotted Fun Bun

How to recreate this look: This one actually starts with your hair…Pull your hair up into a top bun that is off to one side. This is where your scarf-covered fun bun will eventually go. So decide what side you’ll want it on and then put your hair up in a top bun on that side. Now it’s time to tackle the scarf.

Turn your square scarf so that it looks more like a diamond. Grab the bottom point of your diamond and fold it upwards so that the point hits near the center of your scarf. Put the part of the scarf that was just folded at the back of your head (with fold underneath so it doesn’t show) and turn toward the side opposite of your hair bun. Now comes the tricky part…Grab the remaing three points and start twisting them together and wrapping them around your hair bun. Secure the very end with a bobby pin and you are done.

Level of difficulty: A little bit tricky, but you’ll get it.

6. Bow-Tied Boho Chic

How to recreate this look: This one starts out just like #5 – the Knotted Bun Fun tutorial…Turn your square scarf so that it looks more like a diamond. Grab the bottom point of your diamond and fold it upwards so that the point hits near the center of your scarf. Put the part of the scarf that was just folded at the back of your head (with fold underneath so it doesn’t show). Now you should have one point toward the front of your face and one point on each side. Take the two side points and knot it once over the top of the third point that is in the center of your head. Now take the third point and pull it over the knot and then knot the two side points one more time to secure everything.

Level of difficulty: Medium – might take a few minutes to get the hang of it.

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All images by Brittni Mehlhoff (that’s me).

Which one of these looks is your favorite? How do you style your scarves?