Students aim to spice up scarves

The students were asked to come up with new designs for scarves

Fashion students in the Borders have come up with a range of new looks for a very traditional item of clothing.

Their work on scarves and headscarves is to form an exhibition in Edinburgh entitled It's Not Only the Queen.

Students at Heriot Watt University's School of Textile and Design in Galashiels came up with the clothes.

Course director Mark Parker said it had been a "wonderful challenge" to develop personal ideas under the "restraints and expectations of the industry".

Fashion writer and honorary graduate of the school, Colin McDowell, said it was useful for students to try to reinterpret traditional clothes.

"Headscarves have been part of British life for a long time which is why this exhibition is so important," he said.

"I can't imagine anyone not enjoying it."

The students' designs were realised in collaboration with a number of leading Scottish textiles companies.

They include Ayrshire lace makers Morton Young and Borland, Borders weavers Holland and Sherry, and Kinross-based cashmere yarn spinners Todd & Duncan.

It's Not Only the Queen is at the Dundas Street Gallery in Edinburgh from 6 to 11 February.