Silk scarf history

In perhaps what could be considered the earliest instance of peacocking, Ludwig van Beethoven was the first to make the scarf a fashion statement in 1810, making over his look in the hopes to woo Austrian musician Therese Malfatti with his sharp suits, shirts, and silk scarves. Several decades later in 1837, Queen Victoria ascended to the throne and it was during her reign that silk scarves became an accessory for the nobility, a symbol of luxury.

And to supply such tokens of luxury was Hermès—in 1937, the French luxury house, which had previously only dealt with bridles and harnesses before entering the leather goods business, introduced what will become the first true luxury silk scarf. Made with imported Chinese silk—which was twice as strong as any other fabric at the time—the design was based on a woodblock drawing by Robert Dumas, who was a member of the Hermès family.

It was an immediate hit, especially among royalty and celebrities, with Queen Elizabeth adopting them as part of her uniform, wearing them—to this day—as headscarves. Audrey Hepburn, too, wore them as a headscarf or tied around her neck (“When I wear a silk scarf I never feel so definitely like a woman, a beautiful woman,” the actress once said.) 

Incredibly ornate and intricately detailed, one Hermès scarf—made from the silk of 250 mulberry moth cocoons—takes 18 months to complete, starting with the artists who draw each one by hand to the hand-silkscreening process, which can take up to six months (engraving the printing screens takes 750 hours). Since 1937, more than 2,000 silk scarves have been made.

All the chicest icons we know todayturned to silk scarves to infuse their looks with effortless glamour in the '50s and '60s. By the '70s, emboldened by the free-spirit nature of the decade, silk scarves became bolder in their design, with in-your-face patterns and striking colors, which were worn as dramatic headwraps or around the neck to complement flowy looks.