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. Foulard can also refer by metonymy to articles of clothing, such as scarves and neckties, made from this fabric.^[1] In men's ties, foulard refers to the pattern rather than the 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.^[2] In modern French, foulard is the usual word ^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5] It became known as the “affaires de foulard.”^[6]

Foulard fabric is also used in home décor wall coverings.^[7]

• Printing a Foulard on a printing press at Cheney Brothers Factory in Connecticut, 1915 photograph from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
• 1913 example of a “showerproof” Foulard from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.