What the way you tie your scarf says about you

The scarf has a much richer history than you might think. In the Second World War, pilots wore scarves for reasons other than mere insulation. Dogfighting Ace’s rotating their heads from side-to-side to hunt down Jerry used scarves to avoid chaffing on the neck, some scarves would have maps of the local area of the sortie printed on it in case they went down and needed to hide in a nearby Eglise.

Today, the scarf isn’t involved in as many tales of dash and derring-do as it deserves, but it hasn’t fallen from regular use in the way its accessory-cousins like the hat, pocket square and tie have. If anything, the scarf has multiple personality disorder, which in a world where “inclusivity” and “diversity” are trending, makes it incredibly fashionable. Scarves are a final flourish, but there are certain mores and “tribes” that exist; recently Keanu Reeves stepped out in a scarf tied in a rather ramshackle fashion, which raises questions on etiquette around scarves in this bleak midwinter.

The sartorialist

This is the go-to for menswear practitioners across the board. From renowned stylist Tom Stubbs’ geezer-chic to the considered elegance of scarf devotee Steven Moore of Antiques Roadshow, author and luxury journalist Nick Foulkes’s distinguished dandyism, the printed scarves, squares and shawls from brands like Rubinacci, Fumagalli and Drake’s are a much-needed dose of imagination into the men’s accessories market. This is because their designs are so expansive; Commedia dell’Arte caricatures, Samurai, birds of paradise and the Zodiac map. They tend to come in cashmere, silk or linen, the latter being the best all-rounder.

This is by far the most elegant way to wear a scarf, best done with a simple “drape” over the shoulders, perhaps a scarf ring to hold it in place and elevate the presentation. If you are travelling these do expand and wrap round most men nicely.

Tom Chamberlin

The notion of whether you use a scarf as a kind of makeshift blanket or hood comes up a lot, but the only real etiquette for scarves is largely confined to evening dress. There are several permutations of evening scarves you can find on the market, usually black and white, sometimes polka-dotted, and always silk. If you are wearing black tie, you should really stick to the OG go-to (that’s “original” in Gen Z speak), which is white or ivory with tassels and worn in the “drape” or “Ascot” styles (see above and below for my videos of how to tie these). I’m not saying that Timothée Chalamet got it wrong at the Golden Globes over the weekend with his scarf hiding his lack of bow tie, I am just insinuating it.

Preppy

The preppy scarf wearer is spiritually British. Call your mind back to Chariots of Fire and the scene where Abrahams and Lord Lindsay race round the college, the scarves are mighty and slightly dishevelled, a bit like all good stately homes. The preppy scarf is not one to scrimp on scale nor fabric nor colour, and is the best all-rounder. The colours displayed are that of each wearer’s college, a practice which many of them would have known from their days at Eton, where house scarves, hats and socks etc. inculcated the pupils into boarding house loyalty and tribalism, which perhaps informed George Orwell.

There is a lovely picture of him with contemporaries about to play the wall game (a brutal Etonian sport involving rugby scrums and a brick wall), scarves on-show in the perfect prep manner, the “simple round”, a simple loop around the neck and sitting evenly down one’s chest. To be worn with blazer and smart trousers or weekend sporting occasions like Rugby Football matches at Twickenham or your son’s boarding school, where it is fine under your waxed cotton jacket of whatever brand.

Tom Chamberlin

The finance bro

This scarf is as much a part of the Lazard and Citadel uniform as the ubiquitous gilets (although a MD of Lazard once told me that wearing a company gilet should be grounds for sacking but HR have lamentably concluded this is not enforceable.) When the mercury dips, the gilets get their one and only friend, a grey cashmere scarf, tied tightly in what is called the French knot – the classic fold-in-half-and-loop-through method – and tucked under the gilet’s collar.

Outside of Mayfair and the City, you’ll probably see this style the most on a golf course (obviously), showing up for an appointment at the Lanserhof or skiing unnecessarily competitively in Val d’Isère. But before that all sounds too glamorous for words, this is the personality I would urge you to avoid.

It has always baffled me that despite the opportunities a life in finance offers to experiment and invest in a more interesting wardrobe, they seem to opt for something so pusillanimous. This would unsurprisingly be the personality I would expunge, if only to encourager les autres.

The artist

This scarf swings (and swishes) both ways. The artist scarf wearer is a man of extremes. This is a scarf designed for branding rather than practicality. The perfect practitioner of this is Lenny Kravitz, who wore that knitted scarf while running errands in New York that could have blanketed a locomotive, and then takes to the stage wearing a scarf which by comparison has all the coverage of a shoelace.

This form of statementship is not for everyone but it is not something to be sniffed at. Outside of the crazy things people do at Central St Martin’s, men’s clothing has difficulty in allowing for self-expression, and both of these examples contribute in their own way.

Another person who has earned his place here is stylist and creative director William Gilchrist. Here is a man who understands the rules and bends them to his will. He will typically wear a bespoke suit from his tailor Richard Anderson, but dispenses of a tie, and often a shirt and replaces it with a scarf, usually silk, slim, discreetly tucked under the lapel and harmonious with the ensemble.

Sometimes you can’t see it without looking closely as he wears it in the simple “drape” fashion under the jacket’s lapel, but on bolder days opts for the “ascot” where the loop that should be up by the neck is further down his ribcage. He is one of the best-dressed men in the world, demonstrating what the potential of a scarf can be.

Tom Chamberlin

Remember that the neck is a part of the body that longs to be swaddled and held, kissed and caressed. It is a vulnerable region that requires attention, you just need to figure out what personality you fit into when you pick out the scarf to take that role on.