Need an instant update? Wear a silk scarf

Times

7 hours ago

Stop scrolling sundresses, put down the palazzos — the quickest way to update any outfit this summer is by adding something you most likely already own: a silk scarf.
From Lauren Sánchez Bezos's Hermès square wrapped around her hair à la Sophia Loren the day before her Venice wedding, to Charli XCX draped in Alexander McQueen skull print at Glastonbury, this slightly fusty accessory has taken centre stage in recent weeks.
Across social media, there are reels and TikTok tutorials devoted to the perfect tying of them — so that yours, like Lauren's, might survive a trip on a vaporetto, rather than being whipped off by the wind like Bridget Jones's. (The key is to loop the ends round and knot behind your head, rather than under your chin, which gives a more Balmoral aspect.)
At Liberty — where silk foulards have long been a stalwart, if not exactly heat-seeking, item — sales are already up 45 per cent on last year. John Lewis has had searches for them increase by 50 per cent in 12 months too. The second-hand resale app Depop links its spike in interest directly to sightings of Alexa Chung and Kylie Jenner wearing theirs. The elite personal shopping and styling platform Threads is calling 2025's a 'Silk Scarf Summer''.
They're synonymous with chic already, of course, but usually with the twinset and pearls/Upper East Side variety, which can just as often feel ageing rather than elegant. So just what has happened to make such a must-have of something that looked soon to be obsolete in the era of hoodies and low-key hair?
It's the new and easily copied fashion insider tweak of the season, as spotted on Instagram and the beau monde's favourite beaches alike: the waist wrap. You can barely move for vintage silk scarves in Ibiza, where stylists are using their colourful patterns to break up otherwise plain black linen dresses or tops and shorts by folding a silk scarf corner to corner into a triangle, then knotting it loosely around their hips.
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It might sound affected — and admittedly this-old-thing nonchalance is somewhat undermined once everybody starts doing it (see also: winter's woollen neckerchief trend). Yet here is a way to give definition at your waist or hips, while the dangling pointed end adds an illusion of length to your legs too.
It's a bit boho, yes, but the thin end of the wedge, quite frankly, and won't necessarily lead to you buying a tasselled poncho next. Plus — and I particularly like it for this reason — doesn't everybody have a little stash of silk scarves (inherited or simply scavenged from the £1 basket in charity shops) that they rarely use but are too pretty to part with?
Consider the waist wrap a zeitgeisty oomph to whatever you're wearing, holiday garb or no — Chung's algorithm-boosting version was with a plain T-shirt and jeans. It suggests you've put some effort in but not too much, which is what everyone is looking for at this time of year, whether you've already blasted through your time away, have just set off or are counting the days until the August bank holiday.
There are other things to do with your scarf too, though I wonder how universal the Gen Z festival bandana trend really is. As one sceptic said to me at the weekend, 'If you're not beautiful, a bandana just highlights how ordinary your face is,' a statement that, while caustic in its truth, is hard to disagree with.
If, however, you're still tempted to try it, position the flat edge of the scarf's triangle along your forehead, then tie the points underneath your hair. Avoid wearing too far back, or the look becomes more Plymouth Brethren than beach babe.
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Then there are all the neck ties you can do — though I realise many of you will file this advice under 'stating the obvious'' or even 'egg-sucking tutorial''. I don't want to sound like Pippa Middleton's party book but, yes, you can tie a silk a scarf around your neck this summer to add some interest to plainer tops or shrug around your shoulders when the weather is not quite warm enough.
For the former, roll it into a thin sausage from its longest edge to the point, then wrap and tie; I also like wearing mine point forward, like a cowboy, then wrapping and knotting at the front — perfect with a plain black camisole for now, or a jumper and peacoat in the autumn, just like American Vogue's Tonne Goodman.
Finally, there is one more option that I feel duty-bound to mention but which I'm not sure will work for many. If any of you attempt to wear your scarf as a strapless (usually bra-less) 'handkerchief'' top, I'm afraid The Times can take no responsibility for what happens after that.