Best Scarves to Pair With Dresses This Fall
With cooler weather fast approaching, your wardrobe may need a little bit of an overhaul. As temperatures drop, you may not have much use for those lightweight tank tops and shorts anymore. But you can still keep wearing your favorite women’s dresses well into fall. All it takes is a little tweaking to make that outfit more cool weather appropriate. Adding a scarf, for example, transforms your outfit into something more seasonal, and helps you feel more comfortable on chillier days. Here are some ideas to help make the transition easier.
Try a Blanket Scarf
The blanket scarf offers the best of all worlds. It’s soft, plush, and wonderfully cozy to the touch — and, yes, it’s a lot like that beloved blanket that you pull out of hibernation at the first sign of colder weather. But how can you wear a blanket? You can, when it’s a scarf! Part of the charm of this practical accessory is its oversized structure. It’s designed with warmth and comfort in mind, so it’s naturally a little bit larger than the average scarf.
Think of it as a shawl of sorts, but with a bit more versatility to wrap on as a scarf if you prefer. They’re available in both solid colors and patterns, so you have some flexibility and freedom to mix and match them with all kinds of dresses, too. A simple neutral, for example, looks right at home with that effortless shirt dress. If it’s especially brisk outside, pull on a pair of leggings and step into some nubby boots to stay extra comfortable. Bonus: Blanket scarves are great to wear around the house, too!
Up the Glam Factor
Who says scarves can’t be glamorous? While you may associate the most elegant varieties with silk, there’s another material aiming to steal the spotlight: faux fur. It’s luxurious, it’s amazingly soft, and it just plain looks incredible. Faux fur is also, obviously, an outstanding alternative to real fur, and offers a host of other benefits. Synthetic materials are resilient, so they hold up well even if you wear them every day of the season and wash them frequently. And, of course, faux fur is a great choice to wear throughout winter, too.
How to style this eye-catching piece? You’ve got options! Try it with a solid-colored, midi-length jersey dress and a pair of booties, or try it with a shorter dress layered over jeggings and over-the-knee boots. It’s fun to experiment, and you’ll love the way faux fur fits so easily into your wardrobe.
Wear a Lighter Style
During the early days of fall especially, you likely won’t have much use for a heavy-duty scarf. Slowly but surely, however, the temperatures will drop and you’ll find yourself reaching for a jacket to throw on over that dress. An easy complementary look is a lightweight scarf — the type that you can just as easily wear on a comfortable, breezy spring day.
Cotton is a dependable material that resonates with warmer weather, yet feels like the perfect choice on more tolerable fall days. Tie your light scarf over a cotton sundress and toss a denim jacket on top. Then slip into a pair of ballet flats. It’s a more polished take on casual wear, and you’ll feel pulled together no matter what the day happens to bring.
Warm Up Your Fabrics
Conversely, there will come a point during the season when you’ll begin daydreaming about the long-gone days of summer and those balmy temperatures. Fortunately, fashion makes it easy to come to terms with the savagely cold weather that suddenly threatens to overwhelm you. The key? Make sure to keep the momentum going by remaining true to your sense of style. That means wearing accessories to accent your dresses — and yes, you can still wear dresses even as it gets chillier out there.
The trick is to warm up. Knit dresses are particularly appropriate for cooler fall days because they nestle you in a little additional warmth. As for those accessories, choose a scarf made with a cashmere-like material or fleece so that you feel as toasty as possible. This blend of warm materials from top to bottom will help you handle even inclement weather as stylishly as possible.
Don’t let the turn of the season stop you from wearing what you love the most. Scarves make it easy to pull off those breezy summer dresses before you transition to warmer styles later in the season. Because they’re available in so many fabrics, colors, and styles, you can easily find one — or more! — to add to your wardrobe and help you stay comfortable all season long.