Fig. 44.—A Gothic spire (St. Stephen’s, Caen) compared with the hennin (the latter after Fairholt).
Leaving this suggestive line of research, and coming to hats as we have them at the present day, we find that they offer several remarkable vestiges for our consideration. First of all there is the hat-band outside, which sometimes ends in two tails or streamers that hang from the back of the hat (see Figure [47]). From the bow usually present it is evident that the hat-band was tied, and the streamers represent the loose ends. As a matter of fact, primitively, a head-dress was made from a piece of cloth, round which a fillet was tied so that it fitted the head. In this connexion Figure [45] is most interesting. It represents the back view of the head of the Egyptian woman of the Sixth Dynasty, who is seen in Figure [76], and shows a head-dress which is confined with a fillet that is tied at the back so as to make two tails.
Fig. 45.—Band with streamers fastening on the head-dress of an Egyptian woman. From a figure of the Sixth Dynasty, B.C. 3500.
Fig. 46.—A lady’s head-dress confined with a fillet, fourteenth century (after Viollet le Duc).