The Bigoudin woman of Pont l’Abbe, Brittany

The province of Brittany lies on the northwest coast of France. It boasts great diversity in the traditional clothing of its inhabitants. In the village is Pont l”Abbe, the distinctive headdress of the women is known as the Bigoudin Headdress.

Black dominated the color palette, with red, orange and gold trims. Women wore colored bib less aprons on the front of their skirts
An embroiderer
Traditional embroidery
Distinctive embroidery patterns embellished the neckline. This was a specialized task performed done by men of the village.

There were two parts to the Bigouden Headdress. The first part, a red coif was called the coif Bleo. The woman’s hair was pulled out from the nape of the neck into a topknot and secured. The second cap, the coif was placed over the top knot and tied under the chin, It was made of white hand tatted lace, heavily starched and shaped into a form like an upturned cup. Early incarnations were a few inches tall, but the coif grew in the 20th century, reaching heights over 9 inches in the 1930’s.