Tête cassee from Saint Lucia made by Marie Therese Joseph

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 tête cassee from Saint Lucia made by Marie Therese Joseph is formed from a Madras style plaid in green, red, and yellow. The fabric is gathered into an oval with the edges rolled in a wide flat band and the crown portion having several asymmetric pleats fixed into the fabric with an adhesive or other binding treatment. The front crown is slightly taller than the back. A piece of the fabric is knotted with the end twisted and extending up from the center back band, though not reaching above the crown. The interior of the headdress has heavy brown paper also treated with adhesive to aid in shaping and fixing the gathered fabric. The bottom edges of the fabric are rolled around the interior and adhered onto the paper lining. There are no labels.

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