The first widely recorded instance of a scarf dates back to 350 BC when Egyptian Queen Nefertiti wore a finely woven style with a headdress.

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.

More recently silk scarves were worn by 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.

All the chicest icons we know today—Brigitte Bardot, Faye Dunaway, Lauren Bacall, Bianca Jagger, and Jackie Kennedy—turned to the glamour of silk scarves 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 bold patterns and striking colours, which were worn as dramatic headwraps or around the neck.

One of the wonderful things about the revival of the printed silk scarf, which I find particularly pleasing, is the way it captures the renewed affection for quality and respect for artisan design and craftsmanship that’s rippling through consumer consciousness. Following the new mindfulness of investing in quality, unique pieces and moving away from the association with landfill and consumerism.