Hennin
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The hennin was a headdress in the shape of a cone or "steeple", or truncated cone worn by European women of the nobility in the 15th century. They were especially worn in Burgundy and France, but also elsewhere, especially in Northern Europe. They are little seen in Italy or England. The word is French, and the OED records no use of it in English before the 19th century. In addition the term is used by some for other female head-dresses of the period.
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[edit] Conical hennins
These appear from about the mid-century, initially only among aristocratic women, though later spreading more widely, especially in the truncated form. Typically, the hennin was twelve to eighteen inches in height, but might be considerably longer. The tops of some of these conical hats were pointed while others were truncated, ending in a flat top. It was generally accompanied by a veil that usually emerged from the top of the cone and was allowed to fall onto the woman's shoulders or even to the ground, or was pulled forward over the hennin, often reaching over the woman's face. The hennin was not worn pointing straight up, but tilted backwards at an angle. It was made of light material, often card or a wire mesh over which a light fabric was fixed, although little is known of the details of their construction. The most fashionable women plucked their necks and brow hairline so that no stray hairs escaped from the edge of the hennin. The hair (always long) was tied tightly on the scalp and usually hidden inside the cone (possibly one end of the veil was tied to the hair and wrapped round, with the free end being pulled through the hole at the tip of the cone). However some images show long hair worn loose behind the hennin. There was often a cloth lappet in front of the hennin covering part of the brow, and sometimes falling onto the shoulders to either side. There is very often a short loop seen on the forehead (right), presumably to adjust the hennin forward, and perhaps even to hold it on in wind.
Nowadays, the hennin forms part of the costume of the stereotypical fairytale princess.
[edit] Definition
Various writers on costume history use hennin to cover a variety of different styles. Almost all agree that the steeple-cone style was a hennin, and the truncated ("flowerpot") versions, and many also include the heart-shaped open-centred fabric tubes of the earlier part of the century. Some also use the term to cover beehive-shaped fabric head-coverings of the mid-century (as in the Van der Weyden workshop painting in the Gallery). Others also use it for the head-dresses divided to right and left of the early part of the century, such as those in which Christine de Pisan is usually depicted (see Gallery). In some of these only white cloth is visible, but in later examples worn by aristocrats rich fabric can be seen through translucent veils. Some use it for the horned hairstyle with a wimple on top.
[edit] Gallery
 French hennin of c.1460 is worn with several white veils, one reaching to the face (nb the white cresent at the tip of the "steeple" belongs to the figure behind). |
 Maria Portinari of Bruges wearing a high but still truncated hennin with a veil hanging from the top and black lappets or (possibly) underhood, 1476-78. |
 Truncated hennin, Burgundy, ca. 1480 |
 Hennin worn with braids, Hans Holbein the Elder, 1500-01. By now hennins had reached Basle in Switzerland, but were rather out of date in Paris or Burgundy. |
 Christine de Pisan presents her book to Queen Isabeau of France. She and her ladies wear jewelled heart-shaped stuffed or hollow "bourrelets" on top of hair dressed in horns. Christine wears a divided hennin covered in white cloth. |
 Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy in a divided hennin. Copy of original of 1445-50. |
 Jean Fouquet, France c1455-60. The ladies-in-waiting wear very high divided hennins. |
 Hair is pulled back in an embroidered "beehive" hennin and covered by a short veil. The veil reaches the eyebrows. Burgundy, ca. 1455. |
 Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait of a young woman of the Burgundian gentry wearing a "beehive" or perhaps truncated cone hennin, Burgundy, 1460s. Part of the veil comes forward to cover the eyebrows. |
 A modern fairytale character wearing a hennin. |
[edit] See also
[edit] External link
- Images of Burgundian conical hennins
- Castle Garden Creations — Hennin Ensemble designed from historical manuscripts
- (French) Coiffures féminines — Le Hennin
- [*Burgundian wedding c1470, from the Getty, with a great variety of head-dresses.
[edit] References
- Boucher, François: 20,000 Years of Fashion, Harry Abrams, 1966.
- Kohler, Carl: A History of Costume, Dover Publications reprint, 1963, ISBN 0-4862-1030-8
- Laver, James: The Concise History of Costume and Fashion, Abrams, 1979
- Payne, Blanche: History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century, Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; ASIN B0006BMNFS
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