Foulard

{{Short description|Lightweight twill fabric}}

File:Casol square silk scarf as head scarf.jpg foulard]] File:Marek Jakubiak Sejm 2016.JPG with foulard]]A foulard is a lightweight fabric, either twill or plain-woven, made of silk or a mix of silk and cotton. Foulards usually have a small printed design of various colors. By metonymy, it can also be an article of clothing, such as scarves and neckties, made from this fabric.{{Citation |title=foulard |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/foulard |work=The Free Dictionary |access-date=2023-12-22}} In men's neckties, foulard is a pattern rather than a material; it is a small-scale pattern with basic block repeat, also called a set pattern or a tailored pattern.

Foulard is believed to have originated in East Asia. The word comes from the French word foulard, with the same proper and metonymic meanings.{{Cite web |last=Tikkanen |first=Amy |date=2010 |title=Foulard |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/foulard |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=Britannica |language=en}} In modern French, foulard is the usual word{{Cite web|title=What does foulard mean?|url=https://www.definitions.net/definition/foulard|access-date=2020-10-17|website=www.definitions.net|language=en}} for a neckerchief. In Quebec foulard is also used for scarf (écharpe in France).

Ralph Lauren’s fashion industry success began with his importation of foulards from London to the United States.{{Cite journal |last=Fury |first=Alexander |date=March 16, 2016 |title=Just Dandy: T: Men's Fashion Magazine |url= |journal=New York Times |pages=M2.91 |via=ProQuest}}

In 1989, a public debate over headscarves erupted in France when three Muslim girls in a state secondary school refused to remove their headscarves to comply with the school administration’s concept of secularism.{{Cite journal |last=Scott |first=Joan W. |date=2005-01-01 |title=Symptomatic Politics: The Banning of Islamic Head Scarves in French Public Schools |url=http://berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/fpcs/23/3/fpcs230307.xml |journal=French Politics, Culture & Society |volume=23 |issue=3 |doi=10.3167/153763705780793531 |issn=1537-6370}} It became known as the “affaires de foulard.”{{Cite journal |last=Moruzzi |first=Norma Claire |date=1994 |title=A Problem with Headscarves: Contemporary Complexities of Political and Social Identity |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0090591794022004005 |journal=Political Theory |language=en |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=653–672 |doi=10.1177/0090591794022004005 |issn=0090-5917}}

Foulard fabric is also used in home décor wall coverings.{{cite book |last=Rybczynski |first=Witold |title=Home: A Short History Of An Idea |location=USA |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1987 |page=7 |ISBN=0140102310}}