The Icelandic tail-cap or skotthúfa is a typical part of the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

national costume A folk costume (also regional costume, national costume, traditional garment, or traditional regalia) expresses an identity through costume, which is usually associated with a geographic area or a period of time in history. It can also indicat ...

. Originally it was only worn by men, but starting in the 18th century women started to wear it along with the ''peysa'', a men's jacket with a single row of buttons creating the proto-''peysuföt''. Later it was adopted for the bodice-dress (''upphlutsbúningur'' ). The men's version is usually striped, while the women's is almost always black. While the men's version was knitted from fairly coarse woolFríður Ólafsdóttir, ''Íslensk karlmannaföt 1740-1850''. 1999. p. 38-39. the women's version used a small string with a tassel made of fine

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

and later sewed with

velvet Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...

with a

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

tassel (35 – 38 cm.). In the beginning of the 19th century, the tail-cap was rather deep, but from 1860 it was replaced by the modern, shorter version. The tassel and cap are connected with a tassel-cylinder (''skúfhólkur'') made of

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. The cap is pinned in the hair by means of a black knitting-pin but if the woman wears plaits, the end of them are fastened under the cap in the neck with a typical cap-pin.

References

{{Hats Icelandic culture Icelandic clothing