Overview

Early Adoption of Full Dresses

Dresses, as opposed to a bodice-and-skirt, gained popularity early on. They occasionally had ham-sleeves or puff-sleeves, which was uncommon in other regions.

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The Bornholm folk costume is famous for its three distinctive types of headgear:

a.Nølle: Derived from a hairstyle for upper-class French women, this headgear features silk flowers and stiffened white fabric or lace that was pleated and stiffened, sometimes into "pipes" (see images below). The nølle featured red silk flowers for celebrations and bIack ones for mourning. In some respects, the nølle is similar to the Fanø wedding dress headgear. ​​​

b. "Tied on Itself" (på-sig-bund-det): quite distinctive as it goes quite far down the forehead. Many pins were used to secure the embroidered silk or cotton bonnet to the head, and it was a rather complicated matter to put it on. It had a white ribbon under the chin. Over the bonnet sat tulle or lace.

c. Hat å Houa (hat og hawa): the rarest Bornholm headgear. The National Museum's Esther Grølsted describes it as follows: "Linen, the tip of which goes down to the forehead, is bare at the temples and curls down around the ears. On top of that, the headdress has a small cardboard cap covered with fabric and decorated with silk ribbons, but no chinstrap. It can be seen here.

Minna Kragelund describes it as a "three-piece cap, placed on the outside of a rigid cardboard form. Silk ribbons lined the edges. This headgear was worn by confirmation candidates and young girls.