Black hair in 18th century Cape Town #headwrapstyles #tignonlaws #shorts

continuing with my exploration of free black women in 18th century cape town is figuring out what the hell to do with my hair. bonnets & caps were typical for the period but these women were prohibited from any adornments and fine lace by the 1765 sumptuary laws (plus it’s one of those areas my modern eyes just can’t move past). my research made mention that many enslaved people wore turbans and beyond headwrapping like doeks and hats being super common across the continent, we also see it a lot in the depictions of freed black women in the carribbean—also brought on by sumptuary laws which i thought was a cool connective thread. also if anyone wants to link me to a tutorial on how to better replicate these, please do! this was mostly just guess work 😅 #historicalfashion #18thcenturyfashion #dutchcapecolony #africanfashionhistory #18thcenturycostume #historicalcostuming