SCARFS, A MUST HAVE MEN'S ACCESSORY THAT'S NOT FOR WINTER

2 very different, and yet ver bright men's scarfs

No longer confined to just the winter months the scarf is now a real all year around men’s accessory, and forget the one your nan knitted you last Christmas, scarfs are classy and a real sign of the individual in all of us, especially those of us men on the wrong side of 40.

30 years ago I remember looking everywhere for a shemagh, for my 6th form college days, finally finding one in an old flea market if I remember rightly, and it going a treat with my army surplus Parker. Little did I know then that all these years later they would be as popular as ever, only this time around they’re not just for spotty little students. Scarfs have made a real impression in everyday fashion for men, from the shemagh, and variations on it, to large cable knit affairs it seems every ones getting into them, well that is apart from the majority of 40 plus year old men, no they still seem to think scarfs are only for winter and keeping the old neck warm, well now that’s just plain sad.

I love the way in which the guy on the right has so loosely tied his scarf, and the amazingly bright colours of the men's scarf on the left

I’m really not sure what it is with men over 40, I mean yes I know we’re getting on a bit, and yes quite a few of us are in a permanent fug, you know that whole ‘mid-life’ crisis thing, but dose it really mean we have to suddenly give up on looking good? As my old gran use to say, ‘you look good, you feel good’, so what’s going wrong out there, or is it a case of just not knowing where to start? I mean for most men over 40 it goes one way or the other, either they’re all rushing out to try and regain their youth, all Converse basketball shoes and ‘hoodies’, or they’re trooping into old age down at ‘M&S’. Guys there is another way, for one thing trying to act like you’re 21 again is only going to win you ‘plonker of the week’ awards fashion wise, and dressing like your grandfather at ‘M&S' is just plain depressing, no what’s needed is a rethink, a retune, fashion isn’t the property of only the young. Nor is it the property of effeminate, trust me I’m as ‘ruffy-tuffy’ as they come, but I still like to feel good about what I wear. Rather what we need to do is take on board what is going on around us, fashion wise, and adapt it for our age, our tastes, but yes I will agree that it does take a little courage.

And so welcome in the age of the scarf in all its glory, and colour. I say colour because to me one of the really exciting things that the scarf has done is to throw bright eye catching colours in to our everyday lives, which I suppose is where it all started. Go back 200 odd years and the very core of the whole ‘dandy’ movement was the ‘neck chief’ or ‘stock’ the forerunners of the modern tie. Now we’ll all go out and buy the most eye-catching ties imaginable, and yet seem reluctant to do the same with scarfs. Forget the cumbersome wool affairs your mother bought you, rather stick with the new light weight cotton scarfs that are appearing everywhere lately, this way you have the perfect accessory for the summer months as well, perfect loosely tied over a cotton shirt, or t-shirt. And the very same cotton scarf is perfect for giving a winter coat a splash of colour and life. Make a statement with the scarf, don’t wrap it tightly and hide the bulk under your winter coat, rather pile it loosely around the neck on the outside of the coat, let the world know you’re an individual, not a number.

Now we're talking, great tweed jacket brought alive by his scarf, and then the really light cotton scarf on this guy in Milan, perfect!

Don’t get caught out cost wise though, and if you stick with the rest of the ‘cattle’ our age that’s exactly what will happen. Shops such as ‘M&S’, ‘Fatface’ and the likes are deliberately portrayed as in some way ‘up-market’, what a load of crap, I’ll tell you what they are, ‘money traps’. They charge a premium for what is really just a very ‘watered down’ version of today’s fashions, fine for the majority, but not if you crave to be an individual. And in the same way don’t think just because it says ‘Armani’ on the label that it’s in some way superior to any other scarf, so leave the trendy boutiques to those with more cash than sense. Instead be brave and step into the land of the young, through the doors of the likes of ‘Topshop’, ‘Newlook’, or ‘H&M’. Here you will find some of the very best fashion bargains to be had on the high street, my latest scarf from ‘Newlook’ at the weekend was all of ‘£4’, says it all really. And as you walk down your high street on your way to any of these shops spare a moment or two for some of the local market carts, you know the ones you normally walk on by without seeing, in Exeter I recently bought 2 great ethnic scarfs in pure cotton from a young Polish lads cart for ‘£5’, not a price to be sneezed at.

So ditch the old wool scarfs, shop in new territory and regain your individuality this year.  

Posted by Brent Meheux - date - Tags - text

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