Margarete Van Eyck And The Horned Headdress In The 15th Century

The 15th century saw a number of new varieties of headdresses. Instead of being broad, headdresses tended to be high, occasionally extremely high. Around 1410, the horned headdress came into fashion. Pictured to the right is Margarete van Eyck, wearing a horned headdress with a ruffled veil called a kruseler. Her red down is lined in grey fur, and this painting is from 1439, painted by Jan van Eyck. (National Gallery, London) The horned headdress had a wirelike structure like the horns of a cow on which the veil was placed. This style was followed by the heart shaped headdress, the shape of which can be explained by its name. Both styles were an attempt to use the veil as a decorative attraction, which was the opposite of its original purpose.

The picture to the left is from around 1485-90. It pictures a young woman in a conical hennin with black velvet lappets and a sheer veil. (Friedländer) In England, this headdress took the shape of a truncated cone and was, therefore, not very different from the ‘chimney-pot’ headdress or ‘flower-pot’ headdress. The ‘butterfly’ headdress was the most spectacular of all and was a very popular fashion until around 1485; it was a wire structure attached to a small cap or caul in which the hair was enclosed. It rose high above the head and supposed a veil in the shape of butterfly’s

Until around 1380, the hood was long liripipe had been almost universally worn, until someone had the bright idea od sticking his head into the opening where his face should have been, winding the hood with its dagged edge around the head into the form of a turban, and tying it in place with the liripipe. From this, the chaperon was developed, which consisted of a circular padded roll to which was attached a gorget consisting of folds in material in decorative shapes. To the left is a probable self-portrait by Jan van Eyck from around 1433. He is pictured wearing a chaperon. (The National Gallery) The chaperon was rather similar to that of the turban, but it required no arranging and could be put on and off without difficulty. It was sometimes worn on the shoulder instead of the