Amp Up Your Scarf With A Fashion Week Style Secret
Fashion Week is an event where famous designers unveil their newest pieces at runway shows. The designs shown at Fashion Week are influential and can shape upcoming trends. At the 2023 Paris Fashion Week, a certain jewelry item was featured in multiple outfits, and this may be a new staple for your own wardrobe and a great addition to your scarf collection. The jewelry piece making a comeback in 2023 is brooches.
Historically, brooches were very simple and merely used to keep clothing in place. They would be made up of an open ring and a pin to hold cloaks together. Over time, brooches have evolved to be more intricate and can have images of places or people, elaborate carvings of names or symbols like hearts and colorful gemstones, or even locks of hair from a loved one.
Nowadays, brooches may not be required to keep your jackets closed or your scarves on, but that doesn't mean you can't add one to your outfit anyway for a little extra flair.
Brooches and scarves are a versatile pair
If you do not have a real brooch but want one in your wardrobe, you can use an earring as a makeshift one. Once you have a brooch or a substitute, there are a few ways you can style it. It's common to pin it to a scarf. You can use a brooch for its original purpose — holding together a piece of clothing – by wrapping a pashmina or larger scarf around yourself and pinning it closed above your shoulder.
Additional examples of how to style scarves and brooches are shared in a video from eHow Beauty. In it, the stylist ties the scarf loosely and pins the brooch to the knot. In a variation style, she does not tie the scarf at all and instead lets it hang, the brooch connecting both halves of the scarf together over the model's torso.
Another dynamic way to style a brooch and scarf was shared on TikTok by user @silkyscarf. First, fold the scarf into a triangle and begin folding it over itself, creating a ruffle. Then, tie the ruffle with a hair elastic and wrap it around your shoulders. Tuck the other half of the scarf into the elastic and then pin the brooch through the elastic (instead of through the actual scarf's fabric).
Things to remember when styling brooches
Other ways to style a brooch include wearing it on a shirt or jacket collar, wearing it in your hair, or pinning it on a sweater or dress. You can also pin brooches to things like headbands or purse straps. However, you need to be cautious when pairing an article of clothing or accessory with a brooch. Brooches (or earrings used as brooches) poke holes in the fabric of your clothes, so you do not want to pin them through incredibly delicate fabrics. For example, when styling a trendy silk scarf with a brooch, you would want to pin the brooch to your shirt or jacket and loop your scarf through it without actually pinning the scarf.
You also want to be sure not to overdo it when accessorizing — less is more. A great example of a simple, yet elegant, brooch incorporation was posted by a TikToker named Tamir. In the video, they show the "original" way of wearing a scarf by wrapping it around their neck. Then, they show a better way: the scarf is hanging over one shoulder and tucked into their belt, and a simple spiral brooch with gold accents is pinned to the center of the scarf in front of their left shoulder. The brooch matches the gold accents in Tamir's necklaces without overwhelming the look.
However you choose to wear your brooch, wear it proudly. You're in good company. Even Rihanna wore three brooches for her Super Bowl LVII performance.