Scarving and Summering

Drafts:

Earlier Drafts:
I wore these slouchy jeans for a relaxed night on the town.
I paired these sandals with my favorite jean jacket.

Composition:
Road Trip Wear (above):
nautical patterned scarf (the sale bin at Irresistibles)
violet layered tank (Swell)
boyfriend jeans (Gap)
strappy sandals (Target)

Safari Chic Challenge (below):
green patterned cotton scarf (Old Navy, eons ago)
khaki shirt dress (Gap)
three-strand woven belt (Lulu's)
bangles (thrifted)
aviator sunglasses (Fells Point Surf Co.)
strappy sandals (Target)

Usage:
Many thanks to Sally of Already Pretty and Jessica of What I Wore for featuring Liz and me in your style challenges yesterday!  We had fun crafting the ensembles, and we especially enjoyed joining forces with other bloggers.  For our first-time and new readers, thanks for stopping by!  We hope you stick around.

Today I'm exploring uses of the patterned head scarf, the accessory which Vogue magazine calls in its latest issue (page 64, if you're interested) the "ubiquitous" hairwear of the summer.

Last weekend I embarked on a road trip to New England with my husband, my girlfriend, and my girlfriend's husband.  Our destination?  Connecticut!  Our mutual amigo from college married his gal in Enfield, and the four of us were thrilled to celebrate the occasion with him and his new wife.  Their wedding also served as a great excuse to explore historic Greenwich.  So, on our way back from the affair, we shopped along Greenwich Avenue.  I wore the above outfit to stroll the shops with the locals and to brunch al fresco at an Italian restaurant.  (I'm embarrassed to confess to our native New England readers that I ate pasta instead of lobster that day, but I promise I sampled your famed regional delicacy during the weekend!  Lobster in its original context was as delicious as I had imagined.)

These slouchy boyfriend jeans seem to work better with this purple top than with this baggy brown one.  And the layered tank suits my flat-chested self by adding volume.  The scarf was an afterthought, to be honest, but  I hadn't blow-dried my hair that day, so doubling-over the width of the gauzy fabric and wearing it as a headband served as a great alternative to a baseball cap.  I loved the scarf's hue, and the nautical pattern gestured good-naturedly at my waterside context.  It's always nice when a styling afterthought becomes an outfit's centerpiece.

Feeling emboldened in my scarf experimentation, I repurposed one of the long, cotton variety into hairwear for Jessica's Safari Chic Challenge.  Normally, I wear this particular accessory around my neck, doubled or knotted in various configurations.  Seeing that my khaki shirt dress could use a pop of color, I tried wearing the lime-patterned fabric in this way, coiled around my neck.  It looked too bulky.  I wanted to look breezy, imagining myself on the exotic African plains.  So this time, I wore the scarf like a kerchief, tucking my hair into a knot at the nape of my neck.  The result?  Behold:

What do you think of these looks?  Would you wear the scarves differently, tie them in a knot or in a bow, throw them o'er your shoulder like a continental soldier? Or, erm, abandon them altogether?

Prompts:

• Are you wearing head scarves this summer?  How are you sporting this look?
• Why do you wear scarved hairwear?  Are you exchanging hats for scarves for a bit of sun protection, to escape laborious hair styling?  Or, do you favor scarves for less practical reasons?
• Native New Englanders (and others, too!), what do you think of my Greenwich shopping look?  Should I have worn something more context-friendly, like, say, a navy polo dress and boat shoes?
• What do you think of the Safari Chic look?  Too literal?  Not enough Meryl Streep a la Out of Africa?