1970s Christian Dior Green Ivory 'Diva Portrait' Silk Framed Scarf

This square scarf was made for Christian Dior between the 1970s and the 1980s, in 100% silk, printed with the Diva Portrait design in green and ivory. It measures 70 by 70 cm. In these decades, under artistic director Marc Bohan, Dior's scarves were among the most widely worn expressions of the house, carrying its name and its taste for elegant imagery far beyond the couture salon.

The printed silk square was one of the essential accessories of the 1970s and 1980s, worn at the neck, over the hair, on a bag or as a belt. Couture houses used scarves to express their visual identity through colour and design, and printed motifs ranged from abstract patterns to figurative scenes. A portrait print makes the scarf something closer to a picture.

The figure of the diva, the glamorous star of opera, cinema or the stage, has long been part of fashion's imagination. Bringing her portrait onto a scarf links the accessory to that world of performance and celebrity, and to the idea of dressing as a way of making an entrance.

The restrained palette of green and ivory gives the portrait a classic, almost engraved quality. The square format allows the design to be read as a composition, centred and framed by its border. On silk, the colours keep a soft sheen. Folded and tied, the scarf reveals fragments of the image; laid flat or framed, it shows the whole.

Vintage designer silk scarves are increasingly collected and framed as works of graphic art. A Dior scarf with a distinctive figurative print, in very good condition, works as both a wearable accessory and a decorative piece for the home.