Sunday, October 18, 2009

On how to wear shawls

Sometimes I see comments about how nobody ever wears shawls nowadays and how they're not only not useful, but also not decorative, because they look like granny clothes. I think that's because people forgot. They don't know how to wear them anymore. For all the fineness and light weight, shawls can be surprisingly warm, so they're a good substitute for a jacket on cool nights, or for layering when you're going to some place where the air conditioning will be strong. And they're easy to remove and put in a bag when they're not needed anymore, unlike jackets.
Foto37
This is the most simple way to wear a shawl. Just throw it over your shoulders, and you're good to go. Except after a while it starts to slide off, and you get annoyed and tired of keeping adjusting it all the time. One solution is to just tie it on the front, but I don't really like that. I like tieing it on the back:
Foto91
I prefer to do it with circular and semi-circular shawls, but triangles work too. I think it looks great with a strapless dress or top, and besides warming up the shoulders and back (and arms, depending on the size), it's a way of showing less skin. For weddings, for example. Chic and modest for the church, easily removable for the party.
Foto89
Same idea, different setting, great for low-cut tops:
Foto39
Put the center over one shoulder, cross the points over the other shoulder, and fix it in place with a shawl pin or a brooch.
Or you could just roll it a little and wear it as a scarf.
Foto42
I really like this option, but it's not equatorial zone friendly.
All pics were taken with the Aeolian shawl I just finished, so the effect might vary with different shapes or sizes, and of course there are lots of other possibilities that I didn't cover, or even thought about.

3 comments:

MsKnottyKnits said...

You said it! Shawls are certainly NOT for just little old ladies! I think they are eternally feminine, and are so multi purpose that it's hard not to want to love and wear them.

Beautiful work!!

lisa [1] said...

Thanks for linking your post in the Rav forum. This is exactly what I needed to see, because so often when people post shawl pics it's only of the back, never what it looks like in the front.

Of course, now you make it even more difficult to decide whether or not to knit a shawl or a stole because now I know how to make it look classy in the front.

And your shawl is beautiful. One day, I will get around to knitting an Aeolian

Sara said...

i almost always wear them like your last pic. i know it's silly but i feel weird wearing a shawl in public.