A mobcap (or mob cap or mob-cap) is a round, gathered or pleated
cloth
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...
(usually
linen
Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.
Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...
)
bonnet
A bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap.
Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include
Native American
*War bonnet, feathered headgear worn as an earned military decoration by high-ranking Plains Indians
United King ...
consisting of a
caul
A caul is a piece of membrane that can cover a newborn's head and face. Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in less than 1 in 80,000 births. The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, physician, or midwife upon birt ...
to cover the hair, a frilled or ruffled brim, and (often) a
ribbon
A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...
band, worn by married women in the 18th and early 19th centuries, when it was called a "bonnet". These caps were always gathered to a flat, often curved, brim. The caul had a flat bottom and curved top. The bottom was typically gathered to fit the back neck with a drawstring, while the curved sides and top were tightly gathered and stitched to the brim, which typically had some curves, too. Originally an informal style, the bonnet became a high-fashion item as part of the adoption of simple "country" clothing in the
later 18th century. It was an indoor fashion, and was worn under a hat for outdoor wear.
Etymology
The origin of the term ''mobcap'' is a compound of ''mob'' "dishabille, casually dressed" + ''cap''. It may be modeled on Dutch ''mop (muts)'' "woman's cap."
From at least 1730 to at least 1750, a single mob cap could be referred to as "a suit of mobs" or 'a suit of mobbs', while the plural mob caps could be described as 'suits of mobs'
or 'suits of mobbs'.
Variations
The one piece, ruffled, gathered circle mobcap often seen worn with historical costumes is a simplified, modern interpretation, rather than a copy of a period cap.
By the
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literatur ...
period, mobcaps lingered as the head covering of
servant
A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...
s and
nurse
Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...
s, and small mobcaps, not covering the hair, remained part of these uniforms into the early 20th century.
Modern versions of mobcaps are still worn in the
pharmaceutical industry
The pharmaceutical industry is a medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or self-administered by) patients for curing ...
, in clean-rooms, and in other sectors where the hair has to be contained. These mobcaps are usually a simple circle shape with an
elastic
Elastic is a word often used to describe or identify certain types of elastomer, Elastic (notion), elastic used in garments or stretch fabric, stretchable fabrics.
Elastic may also refer to:
Alternative name
* Rubber band, ring-shaped band of rub ...
band and may be made of disposable materials such as spun-bound
polypropylene
Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer Propene, propylene.
Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefin ...
so they are like a shower cap. They can also be made of
nylon
Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups.
Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...
netting.
Gallery
File:Elias_Martin_-_Young_Woman_Reading_-_B1977.14.11930_-_Yale_Center_for_British_Art.jpg, 1778
File:Joseph Wright of Derby, Portrait of a Lady, undated.jpg, A portrait by English landscape and portrait painter, Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution".
Wr ...
, of an unidentified woman sporting a large mobcap
Image:Gullager Salisbury.jpg, 1789
Image:Marie Antoinette at the Temple Tower.jpg, Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
c. 1792
Image:Gilbert Stuart - Catherine Brass Yates.jpg, 1793
File:James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Man, Woman, and Map.jpg, James Jacques Joseph Tissot's ''Man, Woman, and Map'', which features a mobcap
File:Charles Peale Polk, Mrs. Herman Henry Schroeder.jpg, A portrait of Mrs. Herman Henry Schroeder (the former Suzannah Schwartz) by Charles Peale Polk
Charles Peale Polk (March 17, 1767 – May 6, 1822) was an American portrait painter and the nephew of artist Charles Willson Peale.
Biography
Polk was born in Annapolis, Maryland, to Elizabeth Digby Peale and Robert Polk. At age eight or ten ( ...
, which was completed in about 1794
File:Familieportret_HL_Wijchgel_van_Lellens.jpg, 1796
File:Czepiec kobiecy. Żywiec; PME 2221.jpg, Mobcap with gold brocade, gold lace and sequins worn by wealthy ladies in Żywiec
Żywiec () is a town on the River Soła in southern Poland with 31,194 inhabitants (2019). It is situated within the Silesian Voivodeship, near the Żywiec Lake and Żywiec Landscape Park, one of the eight protected areas in the voivodeship. H ...
, Poland
See also
*
List of hat styles
Hats have been common throughout the history of humanity, present on some of the very earliest preserved human bodies and art. Below is a list of various kinds of contemporary or traditional hat.
List
See also
*List of headgear
References
...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
American clothing
English clothing
Hats
Headgear