The complete guide
How to Choose and Wear a 53cm Silk Neckerchief
The problem with most scarves
Most people own at least one scarf they never wear. It is usually too big, too thick, or too fussy to tie in the two minutes you have before leaving the house. It sits in a drawer, gets pulled out twice a year, and then goes back.
A small silk square solves that, mostly by being small. At 53 x 53 cm (about 21 x 21 inches), this neckerchief is sized for the two jobs people actually use scarves for day to day: tidying up a plain neckline, and keeping hair off your face. It is not a shawl and it will not keep you warm on a cold morning in the Highveld. What it does is finish an outfit, which is a different job entirely.
The other thing that puts people off is care. Silk has a reputation for being difficult. It is not, really. It just asks you to hand wash it rather than throwing it in with the towels. Once you have done that twice it stops feeling like a chore.
What mulberry silk actually is
Silk comes from the cocoon of the silkworm. Mulberry silk is the kind produced by worms raised on mulberry leaves alone, in controlled conditions, which gives you long, even filaments instead of short, broken ones. Long filaments spin into smoother yarn, and smoother yarn weaves into fabric with that slippery, slightly cool surface people associate with silk.
That surface is the whole point. Smooth fabric slides over itself, which is why a silk knot stays tidy and does not bunch up. It also slides over skin and hair with less friction than cotton, which is one reason silk gets used for hair scarves and pillowcases. It is a mechanical thing, nothing more complicated than that.
This scarf is listed as 100% pure mulberry silk. The maker does not state the momme weight or the name of the weave, so if you are the kind of buyer who likes those numbers, treat them as unlisted rather than assuming. What you can rely on is the fibre content and the size.
Why the print is on one side
The design is applied by digital print to one face of the silk. Digital printing works a bit like an inkjet: it lays fine droplets of dye directly onto the fabric, which makes it good at small detail, soft gradients and thin outlines. Older methods like screen printing need a separate screen for each colour, so they tend to favour bold, flat shapes.
The trade-off is that the dye does not fully penetrate to the back. Turn the scarf over and you will see a paler ghost of the front. For a neckerchief this hardly matters, because when you knot it the back is hidden. If you plan to tie it loose and flowing, with a lot of the reverse showing, it is worth knowing in advance.
Who this size suits
A 53 cm square is the classic neckerchief size, and it suits a few specific people.
If you wear a lot of plain shirts, knitwear or shift dresses, a small printed square is the fastest way to add colour without changing your whole outfit. It sits in the space between collar and chin and does the work of a necklace.
If you have long hair and want it off your neck in summer, this folds into a triangle and ties at the nape, or rolls into a band. One of the better reasons to look for a decent silk hair scarf is simply that smooth fabric does not grab at strands the way a rough cotton bandana can.
If you travel light, it packs down to nothing. Rolled up it takes less room in a handbag than a pair of sunglasses, and it will not crease into a hard line the way a folded cotton scarf does.
Who it will not suit: anyone shopping for warmth or shoulder coverage. For that you want a 90 cm square at minimum, or a long rectangular wrap.
Choosing a print you will actually wear
Pattern choice is where most scarf purchases go wrong. A few things help.
Start with your existing wardrobe rather than the scarf. Look at the three or four colours you wear most and pick a print that has at least one of them in it. A scarf that shares a colour with your coat or your usual shirt will come out of the drawer far more often than a beautiful print that matches nothing.
Think about scale next. Small, dense motifs read almost as a texture when the scarf is knotted small, which makes them easy to wear with other patterns. Large motifs need more surface area to make sense, so they work better worn flat as a headscarf than crushed into a throat knot.
Border prints are worth a mention. Many square scarves put a frame or a contrast edge around the design, which shows up nicely when the scarf is folded into a triangle. If the images show a border, that is a hint about how the designer expected it to be folded.
Ways to tie it
The simplest knot is the triangle. Fold corner to corner, lay the long edge across your collarbone, take the two ends behind your neck, cross them and bring them back to the front. Tie a single knot slightly off-centre and tuck the ends.
For something flatter, roll the scarf into a narrow band first. Fold it in half corner to corner, then keep folding the long edge over on itself until you have a strip a few centimetres wide. Wrap it once around the neck and knot at the side. This sits almost invisibly under a collar.
In the hair, use the triangle again but place the long edge across your forehead and knot at the base of your skull, tucking the point underneath. Or use the rolled band as a headband, tied on top with the ends left loose.
On a bag, roll the band and tie it in a loose bow around the handle. Leave the ends short so they do not catch on things.
Looking after silk
The care rules are short. Hand wash alone, below 30 degrees Celsius, with a detergent meant for delicates. No washing machine. No bleach, ever, including anything with an optical brightener in it. Dry cleaning is fine if you prefer.
When you wash it, keep it brief. Swirl it through the water for a minute or two rather than leaving it to soak, then rinse in clean cool water until there is no suds left. Squeeze the water out by pressing the scarf between your palms or rolling it in a towel. Wringing and twisting stretch the fibres out of shape.
Dry it flat or over a rail, somewhere out of direct sun. Sunlight is the main thing that fades printed colour.
Ironing is easiest while the silk is still a little damp. Set the iron low, turn the scarf print-side down, and keep the iron moving. If it has dried completely, lay a thin cotton cloth over the top and press through that.
Storage matters more than people expect. Roll the scarf rather than folding it on the same creases, and keep it away from anything scratchy. Velcro, watch clasps and the rough edge of a handbag zip are the usual culprits for snags.
The short version
This is a 53 x 53 cm square of 100% pure mulberry silk with a digital print on one face. It is the right size for knotting at the neck, tying in your hair or trimming a bag, and the wrong size if you wanted something to put over your shoulders.
Buy it if you want a quick, light way to add colour to plain clothes, and if you do not mind hand washing one small thing by itself every so often. Pick a print that shares a colour with what you already own, roll it instead of folding it, keep it out of the sun, and it will still look good in five years.
Delivery is tracked to every province in 10 to 20 working days, free over R1800 and R250 below that. If it turns out not to be right, you have 14 days from delivery to send it back unused and unwashed.