How to Wear a Scarf With a Maxi Dress

A scarf is an essential accessory in every woman’s wardrobe. It’s a great way to add color, texture, and sophistication to your outfit. They are fun to wear and can easily keep you warm in a fashionable manner.

 You are not limited to wearing scarves only in cold seasons, you can easily pair your lighter satin, chiffon, or cashmere maxi dress in warm weather and get that elegant look. This can be achieved with different styles. 

If you are unsure how to wear a scarf with a maxi dress, here are some scarf knot ideas over a dress you can try.  

How to choose the right scarf for your maxi dress

Rules of thumb:

Since it’s easy to wear scarves, you can choose the right one for your shape and outfit. Here are some tips that can help you to choose the best scarf for your body shape:

• Try to make the best out of what you already have. I don’t know how many items you own, but most of us have more dresses and scaves than they actually wear. By reading this article I assume you search for ideas to use what you already possess, and I’m glad to be of service.
• Choose a scarf that looks good with your maxi dress (we’ll get to that shortly)
• For a maxi dress, pick one that is shorter than the dress
•  In general, the looser, the better. For a natural look, go for one with a loose pattern that will cover plenty of space around the neck area.
• For a long neck, wear scarves with short sleeves and wide neck areas. It will add volume to your shoulders, making them look slimmer than they actually are.

Match it with your accessorize

A scarf is another accessory. You can combine your scarf with your accessories in one of three ways:

1. blend it with your dress and let other accessories speak: If you already have an accessory, or a few accessories, with a saying – don’t let the scarf say something else to create a visual cacophony. If you want your bag, shoes, or earrings to steal the show – choose a scarf with a color as close as possible to your maxi dress.
2. Let only your scarf stand out: you can use this method and have the scarf as the accessory that stands our. let all the other accessories blend in with the dress, and the scarf to be dramatically different. For example, you can wear everything in shades of black and gray, or bright brown and beige – and wear a strong purple scarf.
3. Let it join the other accessories’ saying: If you wear a mellow-toned maxi dress and your accessories all have something in common – color, pattern, texture, etc – choose a scarf that would match their theme.

go for color-block

Color block means arranging your entire look around one color, preferably with the same hue.

It’s a dramatic look, whose most famous wearer was the last Queen Elizabeth. She used to say she dresses up this way because she is the Queen, and when she goes outside, she wants people to recognize her easily even from a far, and be able to say they saw the queen. On the other hand, she didnt’ wear scarves.

A maxi dress is dramatic enough in and of itself, color block is a dramatic look. Add a long scarf to it all and you got yourself a look that’s hard to take one’s eyes off.

Add complementary colors

Another option would be wearing contrasting, or complimentary colors. These colors are on the opposite sides of the color wheel:

It means matching a green scarf with a red dress, orange with blue, purple with yellow, etc.

Use its color on a neutral dress

If it’s only your scarf and your dress, and the accessories are insignificant, you can use your scarf to create an interesting saying.

Wear a colorful or hard-to-miss scarf over a neutral color dress for splash of color. When wearing a white maxi dress, black maxi dress, beige maxi dress, etc. – every color and texture will stand out. The neutrality of the dress is like canvas and every color and texture will be well seen.

How Do You Style a Scarf With a Dress?

1. 25 scarf knots to go well with a maxi dress

Instead of writing the instructions, I strongly recommend watching this 25 scarf knots in 4.5 minutes video:

2. Belt Your Maxi dress With a Scarf

One of the ways of changing the look of your maxi dress and adding some elegance to it is by belting it with a scarf. If the maxi dress is plain, a colored belt will do the magic, and if it is colored, then belting it up with a plain scarf will add some beauty to the dress. 

However, you are not limited to what colors you can belt; if you are more adventurous, you can try print on print. Fashion has no rules as long as you love the look.

A long, narrow scarf is appropriate for this look, but you can also use a square scarf. Fold it diagonally to have that belt look, or knot it up to have a ribbon. 

Another way is by knotting it twice and allowing the ends to hang. All the looks will be beautiful.

3. Tie it Around Your Neck 

Tying your scarf around the neck will give you the most versatility. For example, you can easily make it look like a headband, scarf, or even an oversized bow.

Additionally, tie the ends of the scarf to drape down the front of your dress. This will add length and create more drama for your outfit. However, do not wrap it around your neck too tightly, as it may cause irritation and itchiness.

4. Wear the Scarf Around Your Shoulders

Scarves are great around your neck in fall or winter for additional warmth. You could also use scarves to add volume to your shoulders or make them appear bigger by wrapping them around your shoulders. 

Wrap it around twice or thrice, depending on how much volume you want to add to them.

5. Use It As a Wrap on Your Arms

Wrapping a scarf around your arms polishes your dress and makes you look more elegant. Wrap it up and let it cover your arms.

The look is a bit old school but also diva-ish, especially when attending an event such as a cocktail party or weekend meet-up with your squad. The style looks better when you use a solid color scarf with a satin, cashmere, silk, or chiffon fabric.

6. Wear it as the Last Layer

Layering your dress with a scarf as a last layer can polish a simple dress into an elegant look. Throw it on your shoulder and make it look like the top layer of your dressing.

 If you are the bold type, you can wear a printed maxi dress with a printed scarf to give you that striking look.

7. Wear the Scarf as a Head or Hair Accessory

You can achieve different looks when you wear your scarf around your head with your maxi dress. Here are a few tips;

• Wrap the scarf around your neck twice and tie it at the back like a halter top
•  Wrap the scarf around your neck and tie it at the front like a hijab
• Wear the scarf like a headband to cover half of your face and drape it over your shoulders.
•  Try wearing a silky scarf on your head as a bandana with your maxi dress. It will give you a classy look.

By wrapping a scarf around your head, you can easily achieve a bohemian look and many other looks that are exotic and classy.