Books about scarves

Considering that pretty much every woman has at least two or three scarves in her closet there are surprisingly few books available on how to wear scarves, scarf history, and the designers who are famous for producing scarves. Most 'how to wear scarves' books date back to the 1980s or early 90s, and while many of the styles featured are fine, the photos can be painfully dated.

Most general fashion and costume books cover scarves in a single page, however the writer has come across two good books devoted solely to scarves. Both are well worth getting hold of. And as for books on scarf history, well there are a number of books on shawls (and Kashmir and paisley shawls in particularly) but very few indeed on the silk square, the icon of the 20th century.

Another area covered by numerous books is wrapping gifts with stoles - inspired by the Japanese and Korean traditions of using scarves and textile accessories for wrapping and carrying.

Indispensable accessories and sought-after collectors’ items, scarves were an important innovation in 20th-century fashion. From Art Deco through 1950s Hollywood, the Swinging Sixties and beyond, scarves have been represented in every major decorative arts movement over the past century and into the present one.

There is an illustrated compendium showcases the work of a wide range of international designers. Here are more than 250 cotton scarves, beautifully reproduced in colour and all specially photographed, and many never before seen in print.

Includes concise biographies of more than fifty scarf designers, retailers and manufacturers, and a resource guide provides expert advice on dating and conservation, museum collections, vintage fairs and specialist dealers. Indispensable accessories and sought-after collectors items, scarves were an important innovation of 20th-century fashion, and were at the height of their popularity in the 1940s and 1960s. This is the definitive work on scarves in the 20th century, featuring artists designs, important textile designers and designer brands, as well as the wider role of scarves in social history and advertising.

Another book is the fullest and most complete record ever published of fashion accessories throughout the 20th century. More than 2.000 meticulously detailed colour drawings, accompanied by thorough descriptions, reproduce all the century’s archetypal accessories, from the luxurious ostrich-feather and flower-bedecked hat of the Edwardian era to the devoré velvet scarf and ubiquitous trainer of the 1990s.

A reference section contains a comprehensive bibliography and a chart that shows at a glance how these textile accessories have evolved since 1900.