Escoffion
woman's headdress of 15th century Europe
An escoffion ([ɛsˈkɔfiˌjã]) is a piece of female medieval headwear which was popular during the Late Middle Ages (1250–1500). It originated and was popular in European countries such as England, France and Germany, and several Balkan states. The headpiece was made out of a thick, circular roll of material like wool, felt or silk. The material was shaped, by sewing or starching, into a double-horned configuration, with each horn sometimes being up to a yard long. Over the headdress, gauze or silk was sometimes draped for weight distribution or aesthetic purposes. The escoffion style was a sub-branch of a popular style of headwear called hennin.
The style of the escoffion developed over time, eventually given its own name because of its popularity and distinct features which differed from the original conical hennin. The escoffion was a type of "reticulated headdress", meaning that it was bound together by a network of golden thread or wire. The headdress itself was made out of various types of materials, predominantly wool, using looms. The more intricate details were sewn on by skilled craftswomen or men.
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This entry incorporates text from “Escoffion” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.