French Hood

Red and Black French Hood with Gold, Pearl and Garnet Accents

An image of the completed French hood. 

Context and History of the French Hood
The French Hood was fashionable in various parts of western Europe throughout the sixteenth century. Although it, and the way hair was dressed, became more revealing over time, essentially, the hood remained fairly static and was worn with all kinds of court dress.
‘It was usual to mix colours in one outfit, usually with two predominating – white/silver, red/black, white/gold were popular combinations. There was almost always some black either as a dominant colour or as a foil. (Cassin-Scott and Green 1975, p.17)
Rich, heavy fabrics – velvet, brocade, damask – were delighted in and ornamented with embroidery, spangles and jewels. (Cassin-Scott and Green 1975, p. 15)
Anne Boleyn is credited with introducing the French Hood into England. During her stay at the French court she adopted the continental style, and continued to wear it upon her return to England. (Leed n.d.)
‘By 1550 an English lady would still cover her head with a cap, of which fashion placed a French hood trimmed round the front with a richly ornamented band, a billiment, while a fall of black velvet covered the back of her head. But the whole thing had slipped back to show the front hair with its central parting. (Cassin-Scott and Green 1975, p.31)
For the fashionable woman, the primary form of headgear was the hood…It usually consisted of several separate elements. There was always a white linen cap, which formed the foundation and could be washed. This was partially or entirely covered by the other parts, such as the frontlet, blilliments, lappets and veil. When pinned together, these components formed the full headdress.
The French hood had a rounded top… The under cap was set back on the head… It fitted closely to the head, with a brim curving forward to cover the ears. The brim was sometimes edged with a pleated strip of gauzy silk. A decorative band, the upper billiment, was then pinned to the cap, at the point where the underlying hair crossed over the head, adding height. This could be plain velet, taffeta or satin, and might be jewelled or consist entirely of goldsmith’s work…
…The under cap was always white, the veil always black, frontlets were usually black, and the lappets and billiments were limited to black, red, white or gold.” (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies 2006, pp. 28-29)

​Figure 1
Mary Denton aged fifteen (Gower 1573) Showing a very elaborately decorated later period French hood.

Figure 2
Detail from Elizabeth Seymour wearing a French hood (Hans_Holbein_the_Younger; c. 1540) A coif is tied under the chin and the crepine appears to be flat.

Figure 3
​Detail from Mary I (Eworth 1554) This portrait shows a flattened upper billiment with decoration coming down to the back of the neck

​Figure 4
Detail from Anne Knollys(Peake 1582) Shows a late period hood decorated with pearls and with an almost flat billiment. No crepine is evident

Figure 5
Detail from Portrait of Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee (Hans_Holbein_the_Younger c. 1540) Showing a flatly positioned white upper billiment, pearls decorating down to the neck , black veil (probably of velvet) and under coif tied to the neck. No crepine is evident. 

Figure 6
Detail from Mary Tudor and Phillip of Spain (medal)(da Trezzo c. 1555) showing side view of the French hood showing what appears to be heavy decoration and a lightweight veil, but no crepine.

 
Further details found in two other books. Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd in Plate 238 ‘Portrait of Unknown Lady’, by an unknown Flemish master, c. 1545-55, Metropolital Museum of Art, New York (Black and White) shows pearls in geometric lattice pattern on upper billiment and has what appears to be a pleated crepine. (Arnold 1988, p. 151)
 
In Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII  there are the following examples of French hoods in paintings of the period. 

Figure 7
P1 IIIA Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor, attributed to Jan van Mabuse, Woburn Abbey. This shows Mary Tudor with a French hood of white, gold, pearl embellishment and black veil. No crepine, however, there appears to be a line of large purl thread along the front edge of the lower billiment. Large pearls show along the lower edge of the upper billiment and sapphire set badges along the upper billiment. A detail of this portrait is shown above.

Figure 8
P1 Vc Anne Boleyn, unknown artist, c1530, National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 668). French hood appears to be black on gold set with pearls along the upper and lower billiment (past the ears). In the detail above of the portrait, there appears to be a fine gold pleated crepine – it appears it may have been wired to keep the shape (although that may have been the artist’s interpretation)

Figure 9
P1 VIIA Mary Tudor, attributed to Master John, 1544, Mational Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 428) – detail seen above. Again there appears to be a pleated or possibly gathered crepine. There is a red upper billiment and white lower billiment with pearl and gold decoration. (Hayward 2007)
All of the above examples appear to have fairly flat upper billiments (apart from the final picture of Mary Tudor) which are almost a parallel horizontal to the head.

Constructing the Hood – Sources, issues and compromises
I used Maud la Leitiere’s ‘How to make a French Hood’ ((alias) la Leitiere 2011), Drea Leed’s (Leed n.d.) and the Tudor Tailor as resources to guide my construction of this headwear. The class handout provided by la Leitiere was my primary construction source as it provided clear instructions and a complete pattern.
The materials used are; red velvet, black silk taffeta, gold silk, buckram and millinery wire for stiffening, felt for padding, cotton hand-sewing thread; gold purl thread, beading wire, freshwater cultured pearls (as I could not afford to use natural pearls) and real garnet beads for decoration.
There are two key modifications to traditional design that I made in concession to the higher temperatures in which the hood will be worn.

• I have not made a linen coif to wear with the hood. While weather was a consideration, the time constraints of completing this project in a month also contributed.
• I have constructed the veil of silk taffeta. While velvet is considered the most common veil material for the time, as there are no complete, extant French hoods and our knowledge of them is taken from secondary sources – it is possible that silk was used. Certainly, silk was used in other parts of the construction, as suggested by Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies in my opening quotations. The silk taffeta I have used is probably lighter weight than kind that would have been employed at the time, but I am restricted by the availability and cost of materials.

In construction, I chose to sew the veil between the layers of velvet, as silk taffeta may wear poorly if tacked inside the back of the hood. The crepine is made from a very fine gold silk. There are several pictures of similar material being used and once doubled over is stiff enough for the purpose. I have chosen to pleat it as I believe this to be accurate to several of the above portraits and I subsequently ran beading wire across the inside front of the crepine to help the pleats sit evenly. I am aware that the Tudor Tailor (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies 2006, p. 150) suggests using silk organza and gathering it, but many paintings of the period appear to have crimped, pleated or even wire bound crepines and the look of these were more to my taste. 
To provide a good finish in the hood construction, I used a period ladder stitch (de Treves and Lorraine 2007) which helps hide the stitching at the seams and if completed finely, provides for sturdy construction. Everything bar the inside seam of the veil (a saddle stitched French hem) has been hand-sewn. I could have hand sewn this too, but the material frays very easily and machine sewing this was the best way to assure the seam would not pull out.
I have chosen to incline the upper billiment on a fairly flat angle. In the above portraits, almost all of the upper billaments are almost flat in relation to the lower billiment. Many French hoods I have seen in period dramas and in re-enactment construction have almost upright billiments and certainly from a modern aesthetic this is pleasing, but my preference was to try to match the angle I had most commonly seen in portraits of the period.  

The above detail from Elizabeth I (painted in 1590 by an unknown artist) (Hogg 2010, p. 11) shows that couched lattice stitch was used in the period. I have already noted that purl is evident in Figure 7, so by this reasoning, the lattice worked purl used on the upper billiment of my French hood is justified. This embroidery is not as straight as I would like it and in future I would likely use fine gold passing for similar projects as it would likely be more durable and provide a better finish.
The seed pearls used were each attached by threading them on to a double thickness of sewing thread, rethreading the needle and stitching to the next position.
The weight of the finished hood, and snug fit, suggests that with tape bound plaits it will stay on my head firmly without the addition of a comb inside.
Overall, this project took considerably more time than I would have anticipated – approximately 70 hours, mainly due to the layers and the time it took to pin each layer into place before sewing, the seed pearls and other decorations being attached. This is my first attempt at beading. However, I very much enjoyed my first attempt at millinery.

 Citations
(alias) la Leitiere, M. (2011). How to make a French Hood. Arts and Sciences. Annerley, Queensland.
Arnold, J., Ed. (1988). Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd. Leeds, Maney.
Cassin-Scott, J. and R. M. Green (1975). Costume and Fashion in Colour 1550-1760. Dorset, Blandford Press Ltd.
da Trezzo, J. (c. 1555). 'Mary Tudor and Phillip of Spain (medal)', Available at: http://www.kimiko1.com/research-16th/FrenchHood/1550/MaryPhillipMedalHead.html. Last accessed: 20/08/2011.
de Treves, O. J. and C. Lorraine (2007). 'Embroidery Stitches found in Period', Available at: http://casbal.100webspace.net/classes/Embroidery_Stitches_found_in_Period.pdf. Last accessed: 27/10/2008.
Eworth, H. (1554). 'Mary I', Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Eworth. Last accessed: 20/08/2011.
Gower, G. (1573). Mary Denton aged fifteen. New York, York City Art Gallery.
Hans_Holbein_the_Younger (c. 1540). 'Portrait of Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee', Available at: http://www.kimiko1.com/research-16th/FrenchHood/1540/MargaretWyatt.html. Last accessed: 20/08/2011.
Hans_Holbein_the_Younger; (c. 1540). 'Elizabeth Seymour wearing a French hood.' Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_hood. Last accessed: 20/08/2011.
Hayward, M., Ed. (2007). Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII. Leeds, Maney Publishing.
Hogg, B. (2010). Blackwork (Royal School of Needlework Essential Stitch Guides). Kent, Search Press Ltd.
Leed, D. (n.d.). 'Constructing a French Hood', Elizabethan Costuming Page, Available at: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/headwear/fhoodmake.html. Last accessed: 10/08/2011.
Leed, D. (n.d.). 'French Hoods: Their History & Development', Elizabethan Costume Page, Available at: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/headwear/frenchhood.html. Last accessed: 10/08/2011.
Mikhaila, N. and J. Malcolm-Davies (2006). The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing sixteenth-century dress. London, Batsford.
Peake, R. (1582). 'Anne Knollys. Oil on Panel. Inscribed: "', Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anne_Knollys)_by_Robert_Peake.jpg. Last accessed: 10/08/2011.

Author: Nicola de Coventre (nee Nicola Boyd). Images and text copyright September 2011.