Women’s socks or hose were called skoklædi (shoe clothes); they are still worn in Sœtersdal in Norway, and are often richly embroidered.
Married women generally had their head covered with a höfudduk (head-cloth). High-born women wore a gold band, or diadem of gold, round the head, a fashion occasionally adopted by men.
“One day Án met Drifa, Karl’s daughter, and with her three women. She was handsome, and well dressed in a red kirtle with long sleeves, narrow below, and long and tight at the waist. She wore a band (hlad)[[222]] round her forehead, and her hair was very fine” (An Bogsveigi’s Saga, c. 5).
One kind of head-dress was called fald (fold); others were sveig, motr, and krókfald. The last word probably means a crooked head-dress, perhaps somewhat similar to those now worn in Normandy and Iceland. It must be concluded that the so-called fald was often made of linen, and it was considered stately to wear this head-dress high.
Skupla was another head-dress, which fell down over the face.
“Once when the famous chief and Saga-writer Snorri Sturluson was travelling, he met a woman who wore a blue jacket (ólpa) with a felt hood, which was fastened round her head; she wore it instead of a hat” (Sturlunga, iv., c. 36).
Girls wore the hair, when long, wrapped round their belt; widows also wore their hair hanging down. Long yellow hair, and a delicate complexion, were considered essentials of beauty.
Bui once went to Dofrafjöll (Dovrefjeld) on an errand for King Harald Fairhair, and there met a woman of large stature.
“She was fair to look at, and dressed in a red kirtle, ornamented all over with lace; she wore a broad silver belt; she wore her long and fine hair loose, as is the custom of maidens; she had beautiful hands, and many gold rings on them” (Kjalnesinga Saga, c. 13).
