Liberty scarf with gold detail in lilac

One loop at the neck, both ends left long

The fabric is light and creases easily, which is exactly what makes it stay put: one turn around the neck holds its shape without a tight knot, and the ends drop below the chest. Across the shoulders it opens out flat, so the print shows as a whole instead of in narrow strips. Over a coat collar it works the same way, ends tucked in or left loose.

A long purple scarf scattered with small flowers

The print is a scatter, not a repeating grid. Dozens of small blooms sit side by side with no visible alignment, so the eye takes in an overall texture before it picks out any single flower. Small gold stars, three or four points each, come back at regular intervals between the flowers. They stay small enough to work as points of light rather than as a second pattern.

Lilac, mauve and off-white against deep purple

Everything stays inside one colour family. The off-white flowers are the only ones that step forward; the rest sit at much the same depth. From a few steps away the scarf looks almost like a plain dark panel; up close it breaks into detail.

Where it sits in the scarf range

This one commits to a dark ground and a very small print, which not every model does. Squares, bandanas and four-panel designs all sit in the same women's scarf range, sorted by colour, print and shape, so another format is one click away.

At a glance