French women have been wearing scarves for ages. But in the United States, scarves have been mostly relegated to the role of something left draped around the necks of our coats after we take them off and hang them up.

But no more. Square, oblong, frilly, furry, silky, patterned and plain, scarves have gained a new popularity among American women — and men.

New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham — whose job I madly covet, by the way — first noted the new popularity of scarves in early August.

In his video segment Muffled, he opined that perhaps the chic New Yorkers wearing scarves on the streets of The Big Apple were imitating Arabs by wearing "gossamer wool garments to keep the heat out from the body." But he discarded that notion for the theory that style, and the "fierce" air conditioning in the city's subway stations and office buildings were the cause.

In Santa Fe in August, a red-haired wanderer, Har Hari Kaur, was opening Soulfulsilks, her scarf-centered boutique in the Sanbusco shopping center.

I first met Har Hari in the mid 1980s when she was a girl called Kelly Whittmore, proprietress of Her Fabrique Unique, living in Taos and selling her silk garments in a permanent booth at the Santa Fe flea market.

Kelly, a Philadelphia native, had moved to Taos because she was seeking someplace "arty" with a ski area.

While there, Kelly fell in to painting silk for a company called Victoria Silks.

Soon she struck out on her own, designing and sewing her own line in a portable studio which she moved about Taos, Valdez and El Salto.

"I did well," she said. "Everything I made sold. And that's how I made a living for, like, 10 years."

After a while though, it just wasn't feeding her soul anymore. "I wanted to be in the healing arts," she said.

Har Hari moved to Santa Fe in 1994 and became trained as a massage therapist, and later, a Pilates teacher. "I wanted people off the table and cooperating," she said.

Her involvement with Kundalini yoga prompted her to change her name to Har Hari ( a name meaning "prosperity" and "princess of the creative aspect of God") in 1991.

"It's quite a sacred thing for me. It's not because I wanted to change my name. And," Har Hari smiles, "people have fun saying it."

Har Hari said people in the Kundalini yoga community was "really vibing" on her silks. "Then I started chanting when I was dyeing the silks. I started doing meditation shawls," she said. "Once I got into the Kundalini yoga world, I realized my silks were a healing art."

She's since given up doing Pilates and massage and is concentrating on Soulfulsilks. The shop is in a tiny alcove in the center of Sanbusco, which she said used to be the vault of the lumber company that was there before the center.

Almost everything at Soulfulsilks is something you wrap around some part of yourself. Har Hari tends to favor browns, greens, purples and blues. "Heavenly and earthly colors," she said.

Soulfulsilks also carries gauntlet gloves made of silk velvet and the sweet silk drawstring bags whimsically beaded by Har Hari Kaur's mother.

"Lots of people think they aren't scarf people," Har Hari said. "Tell them to come to me and I will show them. I love people, I love women. I love having a good time."

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com