Ethnic Brown Scarf

A long viscose scarf, 90 x 180 cm rather than a square

Shape is what you notice first. It is a long 90 x 180 cm rectangle, so it behaves more like a stole than a neck square: drape it over your shoulders and it hangs evenly on both sides with nothing to tie. Viscose helps, because it falls straight instead of holding a crease. If you are weighing up colours before deciding, it is worth seeing how the other long prints are laid out.

A print that changes panel by panel, tassels included

Most printed scarves repeat a single design across the whole cloth. This one is built from separate printed panels instead. There are large concentric medallions with tightly packed petals, a panel of trailing vine carrying small white flowers on a rust ground, and a diamond lattice outlined in dark brown. Narrow striped borders mark where one gives way to the next, so the pattern you end up showing depends entirely on how you fold it. Both short ends finish with twisted tassels in caramel, which add a little length and, more usefully, a little weight low down.

Three ways it gets worn

Folded along its length it makes a narrow stole that slides under a coat collar. Opened out it covers the shoulders like a wrap and lets the panels show, which is the way to wear it if the print is what sold you on it. Rolled into a band it ties in the hair or sits at the waist over a dress. It does need a moment's arranging, though, so if you want something you can throw on without thinking, look at the shapes that go on in one movement.

Size, fabric and washing

A 30°C machine wash is all it asks for. Dry it flat rather than on a line: wet viscose stretches easily when it hangs from one edge, and the tassels hold damp longer than the cloth around them.