Feathered headdress from a costume worn by Nona Hendryx of Labelle

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

This headdress is part of a costume worn by Nona Hendryx of Labelle. The costume consists of a headdress (.1), a cape (.2), silver studded black leather collar, breast covers, and codpiece (.3a-d), wrist cuffs (.4ab), platform boots (.5ab), prop handcuffs (.6), and a prop riding crop (.7). The headdress (.1) consists of a fauxhawk with feathers and black leather side straps that fasten under the chin. The fauxhawk section is made of two pieces of hard material, probably wood, that is covered in black satin and decorated with convex silver rounded nail head metal studs on the exterior sides. Short black iridescent feathers, alternating with very long off-white feathers, are glued around the top edges of each hard side. The two sides are connected with a wide strip of black satin that is nailed and stapled along the bottom edge of each side.

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