Bald Temptation

When Linda Silvestri of Sketched Out asked me to do a new kind of meme, almost like a celebrity Q&A on the back of a fashion magazine, I was instantly drawn to the “bald” question. I have drawn lots of bald figures in my sketching lab but to imagine myself bald… is so provocative…

Here are the questions and my answers.

1. Voted most likely to: redecorate the house every 6 months.
2. Regrets: turned down Tokyo trip!
3. It’s a Monday, you’re tired and don’t feel like working, so you: draw a cup of expresso.
4. You would prefer to have dinner with: My husband, our cat, my imaginary Beagle and Gandalf.
5. If you were going bald, you would: shave it all off, pluck your eyebrows, paste your face with oshiroi and put on the reddest lipstick in the universe.
6. You lay awake at night, pondering: how to grow organic bok-choy in subzero temperature.
7. If you were forced to share a cubicle, the most important thing you’d look for is: how to assemble a sub-cubicle.
8. What is most likely to be found in the trunk of your car? Spare tyre and chewing gum - never know when they’d come in handy.
9. Favorite ‘Spinal Tap’ moment: Uuhphhhh, sounds painful… do I have to watch?
10. Based on your work history, the job you SHOULD HAVE right now is: calculator and editor.
11. Your imaginary band name is: Fresh Supply.

Unfortunately, I do not have time to tag three other unsuspecting bloggers. I wish I have had more time to discover more blogger friends out there but not at this time of the year! I hope you do not mind, Linda, I really wish I have a double right now!

Author
Helena C. Rådström

• Image: Colour pencil sketch & digital reworking by author sometime in 2006.

Hennin the Unconscious

On top of the “regular” hennins we have observed in the previous post, Hennin the Articulate, there are a few others that have been struggling to fit into the category. They seemed to have adopted other styles in fashion during Medieval Europe, or they have added an interesting and unique twist all its own.

This particular headdress have three distinct differences: (a) part of her hair held by crispinettes (or cauls) that are covering her ears; (b) the white padded roll, also known as escoffion, with bands of embellished jewelry; and (c) her hair falling freely behind from the top of the hat. It could count as a hennin due to the sheer veil covering her head, and the truncated cone hat.

Her veil bears the hennin signature, but that is where it stopped. The wide band rolled neatly to form a disk, is still beyond anyone’s guess. It is quite difficult to find any literature that could shed some light on this composition.

Since the first painting was made as a tribute to a duchess who passed too young, and the second to a saint, the artists might have spread the wings of their imagination and allowed them to fly for a while, not to far from the norm but just far enough to raise curiosity.

Author
Helena C. Rådström

• First Image: Posthumous painting of Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482) by an unknown painter (after 1482).
• Second Image: Painting by Rogier van der Weyden, of St. Maria Magdalene in the Braque Family Triptych (c.1450).

Swedish by Nature

When the winter becomes too grey and too long, it is always a delight to reminisce of brighter things. Things that would happily greet us in the break of spring or in the festivities of midsummer.

These two ladies from Dalarna, are wearing folk or peasant costumes that would become the base for the national costume of Sweden. The long-sleeve shirt, ankle-length skirt, apron, belt, bag, waistcoat, kerchief or neckwear, and headdress are standard items.

However, different areas have their own style and patterns. For example, the attire of a lady from Blekinge as illustrated below. She is carrying an antique wooden basket with carvings on the sides and lockable cover. Notice that she has on a different style of headdress, neckwear, waistcoat and apron. She also fashions a long sash as her belt.

The ordinary folks themselves decided on how creative they wanted to be - that should be considered as something extraordinary and something to be proud of, I would say.

Author
Helena C. Rådström

• First Image: Painting by Carl Larsson, titled “I Bergmansstugan” or “At the Bergman’s Cottage” (1914).
• Second Image: Illustration by unknown artist.

Hennin the Articulate

She pulls her hair to the back and ties it tightly to the scalp. Any stray hair from the forehead to the nape are plucked to show a clean hairline. Eyebrows are also plucked. She then put on the hat, a truncated cone, tilted at an angle towards the back. At times the hat is decorated with jewelry, brocade, velvet or other rich fabrics. The hat has a loop that rests on the vertical center of the forehead, possibly to hold the hat in place during windy weather or in the presence of clumsy company. A stiff linen veil covers the forehead, from the eyebrows to behind the neck, and falling onto the shoulders.

Th hennin headdress had begun its journey, in the 1450s.

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The hat then grew slightly taller. The veil became longer and narrower, coming out from a hole on top of the hat, under the chin and pinned to the other side of the hat. Covering the eyebrows became optional.

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The height of the hat continued to increase, growing narrower at the top. The veil separated into two parts: one to cover the front, and the other flowing from the back of the hat to as long as touching the ground.

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Then the veil reached a grander scale: the butterfly hennin. How this was worn, even historians are baffled. The next best guess would have the veil made of stiffened gauze and supported by wire frames attached to top of the hat.

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When the hat had reached its full conical shape, it also became longer and more elaborate. Some parted and gave birth to one or two more spears. The veil kept its presence. It could cover the forehead and the long hat, falling freely behind. This image or variations of it coloured many of our fairy tales in later times.

Although spectacular in looks, the hennin did not manage to capture the entire Medieval Europe by storm. On the contrary, its outrageous height caused many non-wearers to react infavourably to it. There were even attempts to set a legal limit on the height of the hat. For more than 50 years, especially people living in northern Europe, they had to endure the hennin, as women of nobility competed with their headdresses in both size and stability.

Author
Helena C. Rådström

hennin: French [pronounced: "eh-nann"]

• First Image: Painting by Rogier van der Weyden, titled “Portrait of a Lady” (1455).
• Second Image: Painting by Petrus Christus, titled “Portrait of a Girl” (c.1450).
• Third Image: Painting by Hugo van der Goes, of Maria Portinari in the Portinari Triptych (1478).
• Fourth Image: Illustration in the book titled “Le Livre des tournois” by René d’Anjou (c.1460).
• Fifth Image: Painting by Hans Holbein the Elder, titled “Christ Discovered in the Temple” (1501).

Triumph of the Spirit

It is rather unfair to pronounce clothes as superficial. How we mix pigments to produce the colours we desire to see. How we weave threads of different nature to create the textures we want to feel. How we imagine the movements of lines to make patterns we wish to behold. How we put them altogether to express ourselves. If we condemn our own creative spirit, do we not also condemn ourselves?

This lady here should have lived around the 1540s, perhaps earlier. Despite being a nomad, having to tend to donkeys and other inherent chores, she and her contemporaries filled their lives with a rich variety of colours, textures, and patterns. A bright orange coat with woven large yellow flowers, over a long blue overdress. A band of ornaments to complement the flowery composition of mehndi on the hands.

Her headdress is indicative of the changing phases of her Arab culture. The hooded veil in transparent fabric is kept in place with an embroidered close-fitting cap sewn to a layer of thicker veil. A matching string of beads frames the face.

Turmoil was constant in Persia for most of the 1500s. Its two powerful neighbours, Moghuls in the east and Ottomans in the west, continuously unleashed their greed for territories. At the same time, the new Safavid dynasty (1501-1722) was struggling to re-establish Persia as a unified Iranian state, after 850 years since the end of the Sassanid empire (226-651).

On top of that, there were no running water. No heating. No refrigerator. No stove. No oven. No dishwasher. No washing machine. No drier. No iron. But overflowing with creativity! It is both humbling and refreshing to observe how the human spirit triumphs over daily toil, whatever the weather, whatever the duties, whatever the politics.

I am very sure she did not even once utter, “My other pair of Prada is in my yurt over there.”

Author
Helena C. Rådström

• Image: Part of the miniature by Mir Sayyid Ali titled “Encampment” (c.1540).