Wearing Scarves: A Tutorial (As Requested)

A while back I posted A Mob of Scarves about all my scarves and Suzanne asked about a scarf wearing tutorial which I found hilarious. I don't know if I have much to actually teach about the topic, but I went through my old photos and tried to find examples of me wearing my scarves so you'd know I wasn't lying.

(If you want, you can also attempt to date all of these photos based on the eyeglasses I'm wearing. It's a fun game!)

Part I: I Wear Scarves Everywhere and Anytime!

1) My friend Essen gave me this red paisley scarf so long ago. I don't remember why, but I do know I got this scarf from her, along with a Turkish tea set. And I just wear it with everything and anything and have for YEARS. I chose this photo to go first because I wore a scarf to a dog training class. That's how I do. I don't think of scarves as "fancy," I think of them as, you know, a daily accessory.

October 2019 - I love this photo and I think it's flattering to both me and Hannah.

But, and this is serious, I also wore the same scarf in my profile photo that I use for all work events.

March 2020

To wear the scarf, I honestly just have one loose loop and allow the ends to drape down. Easy peasy.

I am posting the below photo because it's the earliest one I have of the red paisley AND I realized I was wearing black with it in the other photos, but I definitely wear this scarf with other colors.  The photo below was a photo I used in a lot of professional settings in graduate school.

February 2011

2) Another popular scarf that I wear A LOT is my leopard print infinity scarf. I bought it years ago in Chicago when I was there for a training and I had packed way too lightly for how cold it was, but it has turned into one of my most worn garments. Here I am wearing it a friend's house after a high school football game.

January 2017

My cup runneth over on photos of me wearing this scarf, but I tried not to have other people in the photos. I don't know if I need to out my friends. 

January 2013 - I swear there's probably water or something in that cup. I don't drink. 

I think infinity scarves are a great entry-level scarf. To wear it, you really just wrap it around your neck. I generally loop the leopard print one around twice if it's really just for the look, but three times if I am cold. Since I am wearing sweaters in both of the above photos, it's wrapped around three times and the scarf is essential to keeping me warm. 

3) I don't wear the purple paisley as often as I wear the red one, but I assure you, it has its place in my life. This was taken on our anniversary this year and I assure you, I did not changes clothes for the photo op. I wear this one the same way I wear the red scarf, generally.  

May 2022

But both of these scarves can be wrapped much tighter if you need them to be warmth catchers. See below.

October 2019

4) Some of you doubted my summerweight scarf collection, but here is me wearing my green and white one. The child in this photo is now double digits years old.  How embarrassing for him to see this photo.  Anyway, it's clearly warmer weather since I'm wearing short sleeves, but a scarf is always necessary, right? I have no idea what this occasion was, but I think it was just a regular visit back to visit the in-laws.

April 2011

5) Sometimes I don't even wrap the scarf.  See below. Sometimes I actually just tie a knot in the bottom. The child in this photo is now a teenager. What a life.

May 2010

6) I do want to show another summerweight scarf because I want to stress how absolutely normal it is for me to wear a scarf every month of the year. (This scarf wasn't in my original scarf roundup because it lives in my campus office now, but I do still have it.) I travel with scarves and I wore it when Bestest Friend and I went to New York in 2011. They're really useful when flying because planes are usually cold and even if I don't need the scarf to use as a blanket, I can also use it as a pillow. They're also super useful because the AC is usually way too cold in most public buildings for the likes of me.

Summer 2011 in NYC 

Part II: Scarves for Beginners

In this section, I dressed myself in a neutral background and decided that I'd show you how I style three different types of scarves. These photos were all taken in September 2022, so I'm more than ten years older than in the previous photo, so try not to compare too much.

1) Infinity scarves

I think infinitely scarves are the easiest intro into scarf wearing after a scarf like the red paisley that I honestly think you can't mess up. You can just wrap them up two or three times like in photos from #3 in part I, but you can also do a quick faux-necktie knot.

Step 1: Hold the scarf out behind your head horizontally. 
Step 2: Open one side of the scarf and slide the other side into the open side.
Step 3: Pull the end hanging down further down.
Step 4: Yoke up on the top like you would a tie. You're done!

2) Square scarves

Square scarves a bit trickier and more advanced. You basically fold it diagonally into rectangles and then just tie it around your neck. I think it's a jaunty look and it takes a bit of confidence to pull it off. I generally don't wear these too often because these are around my neck a bit tighter than I like.  Regardless, it's an adorable look. (Also, I should probably have ironed this scarf before I used it as my example, but I didn't. This is REAL LIFE here.)

3) Long, skinny scarves 

These are as easy as infinity scarves. You can just use them as a fun belt on a pair of pants that don't need a belt or you can just tie them.  Easy peasy. These are purely decorative and serve no functional purpose. 

Let's play "I Spy." Dog toys? Guitar? Unopened package? Unfolded blanket on the couch? 

I took this photo eight zillion times. This is the most in focus I could get. I need a photographer. 

What's your favorite accessory? Is it also a red paisley scarf? Can you take a full length photo of yourself in focus? Maybe someone should do a tutorial for me on that.