Adornment as Heritage: the Story Behind the Spanish Peineta

Jun 21
3 min read

I can recall from my childhood travels to Spain, the window displays in the locally-owned shops of Madrid lined with the Spanish peineta, or hair comb. Alongside the peinetas were the mantillas, lace veils, and ornate hand-painted fans. I was always fascinated by these distinct symbols of Spain, particularly of Spanish women, and imagined how women, their very existence, was shrouded in this highly decorated form of adornment. It felt theatrical, dramatic, and ceremonial.

Recently, I came across a video on a YouTube channel dedicated to documenting Spain’s “lost trades,” and one of them was the making of the peineta. The process mirrored jewelry-making in so many ways: the hand-sawing of each intricate design, the delicate filing, and finally the shaping of the comb to rest perfectly atop the head. It reminded me of how a piece of jewelry is carefully constructed to sit gracefully against the body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or70SFl-IA4

This led me to wonder about the origins of the Spanish hair comb. Where did this phenomenon begin, and why is it so distinctly Spanish?

Spain and Portugal form an isolated landmass surrounded by ocean and sea, called the Iberian Peninsula. Its name comes from the Iberos, the Indigenous peoples who lived there thousands of years ago.

Archaeologists have discovered remarkable votives and statues, mostly in southern Spain, depicting female figures adorned with elaborate headdresses, veils, and jewelry. The most famous of these sculptures, housed in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid, include the Dama de Baza and the Dama de Elche. Both figures wear headdresses that lift the veil above the crown of the head, almost as if a peineta were placed beneath a mantilla.

Historians believe that the custom of wearing a headpiece or comb beneath a veil stems from this millennia-old tradition.

Throughout Spanish history, the comb and veil remained a prevalent form of adornment for women. Moorish women (North African Muslims who ruled southern Spain for nearly 500 years) would have worn veils. In medieval Spain, women wore them not only for modesty or beauty, but also for protection from the cold.

By the late 1700s and early 1800s, during Napoleon’s invasion and the imposition of French rule, Spanish women embraced the peineta and mantilla as an act of defiance. These were distinctly Spanish symbols, and refusing French fashions became a way of expressing anti-French sentiment. Though historically tied to aristocracy and conservatism, at that moment the peineta and mantilla came to represent resistance.

Today, the peineta and mantilla are most closely associated with southern Spain, particularly the region of Andalucía. Women wear them at weddings, during Holy Week processions, for Mass, and on formal political or royal occasions. A few Spanish musicians have also made the look their signature.

The fascinating thing about the peineta is how it endured through centuries of conquest and cultural change. The Iberos were overtaken by the Celts and then the Romans; after them came the Visigoths, the Moors, and many others.

Each group arrived with its own customs and styles of dress, yet the headdress and veil remained. Their persistence is a testament to how deeply certain forms of adornment root themselves in a culture, surviving, adapting, and carrying meaning long after their origins fade from memory. It reminds me how history quietly shapes what we consider beautiful, symbolic, or essential, even thousands of years later. This is what makes the study of adornment so endlessly compelling: each piece is a living thread, connecting us back to the people who once wore it, imagined it, and insisted on its place in the world.

That's all for now.

Thanks so much for reading,

Caitlin

Some photos to end the post, resources listed below.

Ornate, brown comb with intricate floral patterns on a white background, creating a vintage and elegant feel. — The beauty of a *peineta*

Women in dark veils stand on a balcony overlooking a narrow street at night. A crescent moon is visible in the starry sky. Mood is somber.

BALCONES DE VITORIA. L’Espagne, de Baron Charles d’Avillier. Ilustration by Gustave Doré.

Left: Doña Narcisa de Goicoechea by Francisco Goya. Middle: Mujer con Mantilla Española de Madroños by Ramón Casas i Carbó. Right: Mujer con Mantilla by Ramón Casas i Carbó.