The most traditional way to wear a shawl is to drape it over your shoulders and the back of your neck. The shawl is a versatile and beautiful garment, that can be worn in a multitude of classic and innovative ways.

Shawls can be worn with everything from a fancy dress to blue jeans. Wear it over a tank top, turtleneck, T-shirt or dress. Let’s look at a few ways to wear it………..

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TRADITIONAL – The loose ends of the shawl should hang evenly in front of the body to cover your shoulders and parts of your upper arms. Lay the center of the shawl on the nape of your neck, and each end of the shawl lining up with the other at the lowest point that it reaches on your body.

TIED IN FRONT – Drape the shawl over the front of both shoulders and bunch it up a bit in order to make it easier to tie. Pull the shawl down on one side to make it slightly uneven and wrap the long end once around the shorter end. Grab those ends and loosely tie.

Photo via  Lavender Hill Knits

KERCHIEF – This works best with a triangle shawl. Center the shawl at the front of your neck, then bring the ends around the back to the opposite side of the front. If you have enough fabric, tie in the back first.

Photo by By @lisasattik on Instagram

OVER YOUR SHOULDER – This look is very classy. Drape the long triangle side over one shoulder, then cross the two ends over the other shoulder. This is best kept in place with a pin (see below)

BELTED – Using a belt lets you have a polished and structured look that is visually slimming due to the ratio of the wide “sleeves” to the cinched waist. In addition, the large “sleeves” create a lovely dramatic effect as you move. 

PINNED – Any of these styles can be spiced up a little with a shawl pin. You can style the shawl in any way mentioned above, then just add a pin to it. The pin is also a good solution if you feel like your shawl is constantly slipping from your shoulders no matter how you wrap it.

There are so many choices of shawls pins to be found that will make your shawl unique and awesome.

There’s certainly no wrong way to wear your shawl. Just wrap it and drape it until you feel beautiful! And if you want even more inspiration, check out some free shawl patterns in Nana’s FREE pattern index.

Do you know of another way to wear your shawl? Leave me a comment below.