So I was a little bit skeptical that this was real silk at this price, so I did a "burn test" on a tiny tiny piece of the corner, and it seems to my untrained nose that the scarf passed the test (the thread, however, is definitely not silk). For anyone who is curious, burnt silk is supposed to smell like burnt hair and it is not supposed to shrivel the way certain synthetic materials do (ahem, the thread). The scarf looks alright I guess, although I ended up not being a huge fan of the colors I chose. My scarf is a light rose pink with watercolor-style purple flowers, maybe tulips, and some green accent leaves. It doesn't really go well with my wardrobe, but I guess that's not the manufacturers fault. Hopefully when I switch to my summer pieces I'll have a bit more luck with the color scheme.