Morris Single Stem Coral — Arts & Crafts Colour in Pure Silk Chiffon by Fox & Chave

William Morris may be the name everybody remembers, but some of the most beautiful designs associated with the Morris Company came from another remarkable talent. John Henry Dearle joined Morris & Co. as a teenager and became one of its most important designers. His Single Stem, dating from the 1890s, has a rather different character from the densely intertwined Morris patterns we tend to recognise at a glance. Tulips, carnations and poppies rise individually through curling foliage, giving the design what Fox & Chave describes as an almost heraldic quality. Yet translated onto fine silk chiffon, there is nothing remotely heavy or formal about it.

The Coral colourway is particularly lovely to wear. Warm coral and salmon-pink flowers sit among cool celadon and silvery sage-green leaves, punctuated by mustard-gold details and deep chocolate brown. It is an unexpectedly sophisticated combination: the pinks provide warmth, the cooler greens prevent the pattern becoming overly sweet, while the darker notes give it enough depth to work just as successfully with autumn and winter clothes as with something lighter in summer.

The original Single Stem was conceived as a furnishing textile and produced at Morris & Co.’s Merton Abbey works, but Fox & Chave’s pure silk chiffon changes its character completely. Open the scarf out and light passes through the fine silk, softening the foliage and flowers; gather it around the neck and overlapping layers intensify the colours, allowing fragments of poppy, carnation and tulip to emerge between the folds. It is one of those scarves that can look surprisingly different each time you wear it.

At approximately 180 × 52 cm, it is generous without becoming an oversized wrap. Wear both ends long and loose to show Dearle’s pattern, loop it casually around the neck, knot it beneath a jacket or allow one end to fall over a shoulder.

Our first choice of companion is chocolate brown, as we’ve photographed it here. The darker elements almost disappear into the clothing, leaving the coral flowers and pale foliage to come forward. But cream and winter white make it lighter and more feminine; camel and tobacco bring out the gold; soft grey emphasises the celadon; and navy gives it a smarter, cooler character. Over a beautifully cut white shirt, it needs very little else. We would keep jewellery restrained too — perhaps simply a pair of gold earrings — and let the silk provide the decoration.

There is something rather satisfying about wearing a design with more than a century of history without looking as though you are wearing a historical reproduction. Dearle’s Arts & Crafts pattern remains unmistakable, but the sheerness and movement of silk chiffon release it from the Victorian interior. Wear it neatly or let it fall, show the pattern or gather it into colour, dress it up with tailoring or use it to transform the simplest knit. The history is fascinating, but the real pleasure of Single Stem Coral is that you get to wear it.