Mongolian women's headdresses are believed to date back to the 16th century. There are more than twenty large tribes and ethnic groups in Mongolia, most of which are Khalkhs, and each tribe has its own unique traditional style of clothing and jewellery.
From the 16th century onwards, Mongolian women began to have a special hairstyle, designed to mimic wing like appearance and decorate it with patterns and pure white silver ornaments.
At that time, a man’s riches were shown by the ornaments in his wife’s headdress, the more extravagant and expensive ornaments the richer the husband is.
When a Mongolian woman entered marriage with her husband, she braided her hair in two strands and decorated it with ornaments according to their tribe customs.
Khalkh women headdress consists of small silver cap with filigree to which numerous silver, coral or turquoise ornaments are attached which is placed on the top of forehead sometimes worn with another crown like hat. If the top of the cap was open, it is said to be of the people and if it was closed, it is said to be of a queen.
The two strands of the plaited hair are decorated with 6 to 9 silver clips in the middle which the lower part of the strands is put into embroidered brocade covers.
The brocade covers are made with cloth and is decorated with patterns and coral and silver ornaments.
There are also 3 or 5 or 7 or 9 strands of pearls attached to the headband on each side of the temple which the length hangs down to the cheeks or even longer.
Grand Empress, Tsend Dondogdulam
From their headdress, it was possible to determine the status and marital status of women by the clothes and jewellery they wore.
