The usual headdress in Kosovo for women is just a scarf, worn on the head in different ways, loosely, tight around the chin or pinned at the sides. Most of them very colorful, some plain white, black or in one color.
However, there are some remarkable headdresses worn in Kosovo as well.
One of the most outstanding is the headdress in the Dukagjin plain. It looks like an open tube from the front of the head protruding about 10-15 cm behind the back of the head of plain white cloth. Sometimes just plain white, but often decorated in the same plain white with geometrical figures in it. The hair is covered by a black scarf, which can be decorated as well. Under it is a white scarf, which hang as a loose beneath the chin, reaching to the breast, the ends hanging loosely to the back, alo decorated in the same way as the white cap. From a distance the whole of the costume appears as a nun’s or nurse’s costume. The photos, take at the Gjirokastër festival 2009 shows the beautiful decorations, white on one side, light blue on the other side as well as the decorations on the scarves and on the black scarf, seen from behind.(To what extend there is a connection with the headdresses of the people of the coastal regions of the south-western Netherlands and Normandy is a question that may arise. According to historians knights from Normandy settled in the area during or after the Crusades and Dukagjin might be derived from Duke John, Gjin or Gjon being the Albanian name for John)
The second one is the headdress of the women from the Zhym region, south-west of Prizren and often seen in the market in Prizren town. A scarf is rolled up as a broad band and put on the head like a crown. Over this a large scarf is fastened, covering most of the head. This scarf is usually a very long one, with the ends heavily decorated with embroidery or woven cloth and in between some more simple woven striped cloth. One end of the scarf is fastened underneath the “crown”, the other end on top of it, creating a loose on the back (Some also show both ends fastened on top). For the bridal dress the piece of cloth between the ends of the scarf is more elaborate and probably made of silk with two pieces of different material added at the ends.
The third one is a very small cap from the Drenica region, which is covered half by the large scarf and worn to one side of the head. The cap is made from cardboard in the form of a circle, maybe 10 cm in diameter, cut in at one side to the centre and folded over to create the form of a cap. Over the cardboard a piece of linen or cotton is stitched together. As only half of the cap is to be seen, only half of the cap is decorated with beads, finished off along the rim with imitated coins of copper. It is probably a more simple replacement of the older "kapice", usually a bronze or copper "plate" covering a larger part of the head, often decorated with silver and gold coins or filigran work.
See the gallery with pictures of these headdresses.
