Antique Floral Rose Silk Habotai Scarf

DESIGNER'S NOTES

A Fox & Chave silk habotai scarf with a floral design of pale pink antique roses over a blue ground.

The antique rose, often referred to as the old garden rose, carries deep symbolic and aesthetic weight in art and design. Cultivated before the advent of modern hybrid roses in the 19th century, these varieties such as Damask, Bourbon, and Gallica were prized for their rich fragrance, layered petals, and romantic, often faded hues.

In painting and textile design, the antique rose suggested nostalgia, femininity, and transience, appearing frequently in Victorian decoration, Rococo interiors, and Pre-Raphaelite imagery. Artists depicted them not as crisp symbols of perfection, but as soft, weathered forms with natural imperfections.

Their cultivation and portrayal were tied to ideas of memory, domestic beauty, and the melancholy charm of things preserved from an earlier age.

COLOURS

STYLING

A Fox & Chave habotai silk scarf can be worn with the classic knot style or a pussycat bow. You can even create a shawl effect by knotting two scarves together behind your neck and allowing them to drape over your shoulders. More scarf styling ideas are available in this wonderful How to Tie a Scarf book.