Women's scarf with teal fish pattern

What does the teal fish print look like up close?

Each fish is drawn with a dark outline, which keeps the design readable from a distance. Inside the outline the fills change: horizontal stripes on some, rows of small scales on others, a few left almost plain with a single dot for the eye. The orange tails repeat often enough to carry the eye along the length, while the pink and yellow-green touches turn up only here and there. Looped at the neck, the shapes bunch together at the knot and then spread out again along the ends, so the print reads dense in one place and sparse in another.

Styling a long cotton scarf in summer

The easiest version is a single loose loop with both ends hanging inside an open blazer, which keeps the print visible from the front. Folded lengthways into a narrow band, the same scarf runs through the belt loops of straight-leg denim and knots at the hip. On warmer evenings it works thrown over the shoulders of a plain black dress, where the teal does the talking and nothing else needs to. For other prints in the same spirit, have a look through our women's scarf pages.

Packing it and keeping it flat

Light cotton folds down to almost nothing and travels in a bag pocket without taking up room. Creases from a day of wear drop out if you lay it flat for a few hours rather than hanging it. The plain cotton keeps its colour flat and matt, with no sheen across the weave.

Sizing up this fish print scarf