Dresses Are Great, But This Pretty Shirt Trend Is Going to Be Just as Popular for Summer 2026

Shop the very best options.

Allyson Payer's avatar
By
published
in Buying Guides
Influencers wearing scarf tops.
(Image credit: @sylviemus_; @styledsara; @smythsisters)

As we start to consider our summer wardrobes each year, it's only natural for dresses to come to mind first. We can always count on brands to release a plethora of pretty dresses each summer, but let's not forget the pretty summer tops. I'd much rather buy a top than a dress because that's what I inevitably end up wearing more often with skirts, shorts, trousers, and jeans.

If you want to shop for pretty new tops and stay on-trend this summer, the style to hone in on is scarf tops. I started seeing the trend last summer when chic dressers were suddenly wearing scarves in a myriad of ways: tying them around their waists, wearing them in their hair, and, yes, wearing them as tops.

Scarf tops run the gamut from an oversize silk scarf folded and worn as a top to a flowy top with an attached scarf to a satin top with a unique print to a draped-neck halter top in a silky fabric. Many pieces can be considered scarf tops. All are trendy, and all are quite pretty. Before all the good ones sell out, I rounded up the prettiest scarf tops on the market. Scroll on to shop my picks.

Explore More:
Allyson Payer
Allyson Payer
Senior Editor

Allyson is a senior editor for Who What Wear. She joined the company in 2014 as co-founder Katherine Power's executive assistant and over the years has written hundreds of stories for Who What Wear. Prior to her career in fashion, Allyson worked in the entertainment industry at companies such as Sony Pictures Television. Allyson is now based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a BFA in theater arts. Her path to fashion may not have been linear, but based on the number of fashion magazines she collected as a child and young adult, it was meant to be.