Coif

Coifs and forehead cloths were worn across classes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Working class women wore worn plain, linen coifs, while aristocratic and, increasingly, middle class women wore detailed, embroidered versions, such as these. As has been noted by scholars, this surviving set is composed of high quality linen, multicolored silks, and spangles. The repeating, scrolling pattern of leaves and ferns is highly stylized, featuring an abstracted blue, red, and silver color palette.



Traditionally, the coif and forehead cloth are understood to be the women’s alternative to a nightcap, worn indoors or beneath a headdress. In the 1530s, one Italian visitor to England explained that the coif fit closely around the head, so the hair was entirely covered, except for a “few tresses…visible over the forehead.” Over the coif, those of lower rank might wear a headdress of white cloth, those of higher rank, a velvet version. The style, he said, gave “a very elegant appearance.”


From this example and further visitor’s reports, we understand how the layers of the coif, forehead cloth, and headdress concealed the hair, which was considered an act of modesty, chastity and virtue. The multiplicity of head coverings also mirrors the interlocking parts, layers, and multivalent meanings early modern dress more broadly.