{{Short description|High headdress, or hairstyle worn with this headdress}} [[File:Fontange Kneller - cropped.jpg|thumb|upright| Queen Mary II of England wearing fontanges and a frelange, 1688 (mezzotint made 1690s)]]

A '''fontange''', or '''frelange''', is a high headdress popular during the turn of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Europe.

Technically, ''fontanges'' are only part of the assembly, referring to the decorative ribbon bows, linen, and lace, and the small linen cap beneath<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Cummings |first=Valerie |title=The Dictionary of Fashion History |last2=Cunnington |first2=C. W. |last3=Cunnington |first3=P. E. |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2017 |edition=2nd |location=London |pages=112}}</ref> which support the ''frelange''.<ref name="mary">[https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78240/mezzotint-maria-dg-angliae-scotiae-franciae/ Mezzotint of Mary II of England] in the Victoria & Albert Museum collection</ref> The frelange was supported by a wire framework called a ''commode''.<ref name="mary" /> Along with hair being worn in tight curls of hair worn at the top of the head and the frills described, making up the fontange's elaborate decoration were lappets draping the side of the face or back of the wearer's head.<ref name=":0" />

Further, the term "fontange" is also used by some writers to refer to the associated hairstyle or the combination of headdress and hairstyle.<ref name="marquise" /> The 'fontange coiffure' was a hairstyle where the front of the hair was worn curled and piled high above the forehead in front of the frelange, which was always higher than the hair. Sometimes the hairstyle was supported by a wire framework called a pallisade.<ref name="hair">{{cite book|author1-link=Carolyn L. White |last=White |first=Carolyn L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-rHmq8CXIMwC |title=American artifacts of personal adornment, 1680-1820: a guide to identification and interpretation |publisher=Rowman Altamira |year=2005 |isbn=0-7591-0589-8 |location=Lanham, MD |page=111}}</ref>

A surviving example of a frelange headdress with fontanges and commode in situ is that worn by the 1690s fashion doll Lady Clapham.<ref name="hunter">{{Citation | last1 = McShane | first1 = Angela | last2 = Backhouse | first2 = Clare | contribution = Top-Knots and Lower Sorts: Print and Promiscuous Consumption in the 1690s | editor1-last = Hunter | editor1-first = Michael | title = Printed Images in Early Modern Britain: Essays in Interpretation | pages = 337–358 | publisher = Ashgate Publishing Ltd. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HO-y92dlu9gC | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-0-7546-6654-7}}</ref><ref>[https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O82546/dolls-cap-lady-claphams-cap/ Lady Clapham's cap] in the Victoria & Albert Museum collection</ref> In England, the style was popularly known as a 'top-knot', versions of which were worn by ladies of all ranks, from the Queen downwards to kitchen maids, making it an easy target for satire and criticism.<ref name="hunter" />

The fontange is said to be named for the Duchesse de Fontange, a mistress of King Louis XIV of France. One version of the story is that after losing her cap while hunting with the King, the Marquise tied her hair up using a ribbon in a manner that pleased him, and this was imitated by the other ladies at court, subsequently spreading across Europe.<ref name=marquise>[http://marquise.de/en/1700/glossar/fontange.html Definition of 'fontange'] at marquise.de</ref> What started out as a simple headdress of folded ribbon in the 1680s became, with additional fabric, lace and trimmings, taller and more complex, increasingly difficult to create and wear.<ref name=hunter/><ref>{{cite book | last=DeJean | first=Joan | page=[https://archive.org/details/essenceofstyle00joan/page/39 39] | title=The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour | location=New York | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=2005 | isbn=0-7432-6413-4 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/essenceofstyle00joan/page/39 }}</ref> Despite its courtly origins, fontanges were forbidden to be worn at French state occasions, although the English court accepted them, with Queen Mary having her portrait painted wearing one.<ref name=hunter/><ref name=mary/>

The word fontange was later used to describe the edging and centre ribbon of a corsage, in about 1850.<ref name=":0" />

== Gallery == <gallery class="center" widths="150px" heights="200px"> Femme de qualité en deshabillé d'Esté (titel op object), RP-P-2009-1092.jpg|1684 Femme de qualité en Sultane, G.4764(3).jpg|1688 Femme de qualité en déshabillé, G.4760.jpg|1690 Femme de qualité en Stenkerke et falbala, G.4763(3).jpg|1693 Vijf vrouwenhoofden in verschillende standen, met fontange Studiebladen met modeverschijnselen (serietitel), RP-P-1944-435.jpg|1703 Vier vrouwenhoofden in verschillende standen, met fontange Studiebladen met modeverschijnselen (serietitel), RP-P-1944-436.jpg|1703 </gallery>

==See also== * List of hairstyles * Ringlet (haircut)

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== * {{commons category-inline}} * {{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Hats}} {{Human hair}} {{Historical clothing}} Category:17th-century fashion Category:18th-century fashion Category:Hairstyles Category:Headgear