In the Danish tradition a "guldnakke", or "golden neck", is an intricately embroidered bonnet that used to be fashionable in 1810-20s, especially among the wives of wealthy farmers, while silver bonnets belonged to wives from a working family.
The bonnets represented therefore a symbol of status and were passed down for generations.
The headpieces were created by women of extraordinary needlework skills: they were indeed made with opulent textiles, and featured gold threads, beads and floral embroideries.
Until the mid-1800s, textiles made of gold thread or gold beads were created solely for the royalty, nobility and the church, and therefore these bonnets hold a special mening in the social history of Denmark.
The guldnakke reched its peak in popularity between the 1850s and the 1870s: women would fashion them in their own styles, leaving the ribbon hanging or tying it in a double bow.
As the decades passed, the bonnet evolved and women favouring transitional styles of "guldnakke" opted for black, rather than gold, bonnets.
The guldnakke started declining during the industrial revolution, when, following city trends, people began wearing hats rather than bonnets.
A few years ago, Danish photography-based visual artist Trine Søndergaard launched a personal project entitled "Guldnakke" that featured contemporary women wearing this traditional headdress.
Born in 1972 in Grenå, Denmark, Søndergaard studied drawing and painting in Aalborg and Copenhagen before attending and graduating from Fatamorgana, The Danish School of Art Photography, in Copenhagen.
In 2000 she received the Albert Renger Patzsch Award and took part in numerous exhibitions in Denmark and abroad.
While her portfolio features quite a few intriguing projects such as the architectural series "Interiors", "Guldnakke" remains one of her most striking series.
Nine images from this series are now part of an exhibition at SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion and Film in Atlanta (through July 28th), curated by Alexandra Sachs, executive director of SCAD FASH and Atlanta Exhibitions.
In Søndergaard's images we can't see the faces of the women, but only the back of their heads, yet the delicate photographs could be conceived as proper portraits that tackle issues of female identity and self-preservation.
In the photographs there is a key dichotomy between the bonnets and the 21st-century clothing donned by the women. These visual contrasts generate time warps, while creating a link between these modern women and the women who lived in the 19th century and who used to wear these pieces and the women who made them, inviting people to consider wider issues including heritage and the evolution of society and of fashion as well.
The past and the present are therefore combined in these portraits generating a duality and providing the viewers with different points of view and perspectives from which they can admire or study these images.
There is also another protagonist in the photographs - the textile used for the bonnets. The light converges on the gold threads and beads, making them sparkle ans shine, and the format of these portraits evoking large painting highlights the powerful visual effect created by the intricate embroideries and the opulent materials employed to make the bonnets.
The exhibition at SCAD FASH also includes a vintage guldnakke from the university's permanent collection and four golden bonnets on loan from the Furesø Museer, in Farum, Denmark, unique pieces that will certainly inspire students and visitors to learn more about this extraordinary example of traditional headgear.
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