I think cowboy symbolize Camilla, because they both wear a red scaff.

Camilla controls Diane's career. She's forcing Diane to do something that she doesn't want.
At the pool party, it's a critical moment. There is important message from Camilla, no matter you like it or not. Analogy to cowboy's dialog.
Similarly Camilla in the doorway & cowboy in the doorway are pairs.

Aunt Ruth wears scarves too. Scarves are definitely important.

The Cowboy to me always represented a dominate, parental-type of figure. I know the character is theorized by a lot of Lynch fans to be anything short of a "lodge spirit" (TP Gazette) and other paranormal entities. But I think the Cowboy himself is the unknown force that has Diane/Adam/Betty/Rita feeling helpless and vulnerable, personified like how the Bum I strongly believe to be the ugliness of the hit arrangement and the fear of being caught/guilt of murder given face.

kmkmiller wrote:Aunt Ruth wears scarves too. Scarves are definitely important.

But Camilla's one is red, same as the cowboy's

maybe the color of scarves in MD are like belts in karate, denoting progress in the art thereof.

I am being 100% serious.

Well red along with black have featured prominently in Mulholland Drive.

*Black (Rita, Adam Kesher, Louise Bonner, Coco, Camilla, Dan, Joe)

*Red (Coco, Rita, Betty, Camilla, Cowboy, Diane, Aunt Ruth, Club Emcee)

*Black & Red (Coco, Rita, Camilla, Rebekah Del Rio?)

Then there's Pink (Betty, B. Camilla, Carol) If we're to look at the color pink as representing "innocence" or "naivety" Betty fits this perfectly, I always did get a hunch that Blonde Camilla was only in it for the part and wasn't really aware of what was really going on, the true scope of things. Also "Pink's" and Laney; she didn't wear pink but is associated to the color via the restaurant and her nature seemed child-like (innocent, despite her profession) and she seemed naive/ignorant to goings on around her - so in a way Pink could also be associated to Laney.

I know the colors of scarves mean something but for me I want to just focus on the scarves. Here's a bunch of scarves in MULHOLLAND DRIVE.

First Scarf on Aunt Ruth (leaving Havenhurst with Bags):


Second Scarf (leaving LAX with bags):


The Cowboy (gosh darn it, it never occurred to me that The Cowboy had a scarf but there it is)


Now the 4th scarf (leaving Sierra Bonita with bags):


And while I got to scouring the entire movie for scarves, I found another. I know I'm new to all this but I still love the feeling I get when I see something I didn't notice before, so maybe this is old news but hey.

Guess who else has a scarf? Worn as a cravat. Yep. The Magician. The guy who tells us it was all a dream.



And now finally, Camilla gets a scarf:


I think it's clear that Camilla, in the final scene, is sharing a special component of mysterious folks inside Diane's dream. So now if you consider the pool party scene to be a real world event in Diane's life, a flashback, then Camilla's scarf is just showing up on characters who have special mysterious powers, and furthermore, they are always packing their bags and leaving. Make of that what you will.

But I think scarves mean that the person wearing the scarf is practiced in the arts of manipulating or setting up a scene in the dream. Aunt Ruth and her doppelgangers leave dream scenes just as Diane, i mean Betty, is arriving.

The Cowboy can change what happens in the dream by teaching Adam he has to release control over his film.

And then the Magician shows up with a scarf to basically pull back the curtain on the dream and tell her it's all a tape, a recording.

So then what does it mean that Camilla is now wearing a scarf. I think it means that the moment Rita went into the blue box, she became like Aunt Ruth, The Cowboy and the Magician. Make of that what you will. That would mean that the dinner party scene is still a dream.

Although can't say for sure it if is a scarf or not, Ed has keys like Aunt Ruth.

Would it make sense for him to have a scarf as well?

I wonder if this means something, when Betty meets Rita she asks, "Do you work with my Aunt?"

Not yet.