Peinetón
[3][2] The peineta was introduced to Buenos Aires around 1815 and, as early as 1824, interest began to grow in larger and more elaborate models, eventually giving rise to the peinetón that had its heyday between 1830 and 1837.
[2] The accessory emerged during the Romantic era[note 1] of Western fashion, and was worn alongside dresses with small waists and large, voluminous sleeves.
[3][4] The trend was unique to the Río de la Plata, serving as a way to differentiate from Spanish culture and becoming a defining feature of porteño women for both locals and foreigners.
[8][9] As such, it represents a moment of interest for Argentine fashion historians, and is associated with a growing sense of national identity in post-colonial Argentina, which had declared independence in 1816 and was undergoing a series of bloody civil wars between Federalists and Unitarians.
[2][1] The development of the fashion mainly took place during the rule of the Federalist Juan Manuel de Rosas, a time in which clothing became increasingly codified to demonstrate political adherence to the regime.
[3] Due to the high cost of tortoiseshell and its elaborate manufacture, the headpiece became a luxury item that served as a symbol of prestige among the elite, although women of lower social classes also aspired to own one.
[11][12] Several modern authors consider that the peinetón served as a way for women to burst in and reaffirm themselves in public space, at a time when they were heavily relegated to domestic life.
The former includes "pearls, frets, meanders, lozenges, ovas, waves, palmettes, scrolls, grids, ribbons, loops, spirals, seed beads, feathers, glasses, baskets, musical instruments, acanthus leaves, firebrands, Phrygian caps, initials, inscriptions and names"; while the latter represents "elements taken from nature, phytomorph motifs, leaves and flowers, roses, daisies, sunflowers, poppies, even a tree of life (in [Buenos Aires'] Saavedra Museum collection) and zoomorphs, butterflies, birds and dragonflies.
[3][6] Its origin is commonly attributed to manufacturer Manuel Mateo Masculino,[8] including fashion sociologist Susana Saulquin in her 2006 book Historia de la moda argentina.
[2] Some modern authors point out that the peinetón actually derived from the tall and ornate hairstyles that appeared in French fashion plates, including the chignon style and the tortoiseshell combs known as peigne "a la girafe".
[17] Nevertheless, the accessory was more likely a synthesis of both the Spanish and French styles,[1] with researcher Susan Hallstead describing it as a result of transculturation and an "Argentine product that reconciles complete cultural independence and blatant imitation.
[1] According to historian Alejo González Garaño, the workers that manufactured the peinetón were lower-class black slaves or freedmen—including women and children—who were trained in the trade and many times "turned out to be eminent craftsmen as chiselers, engravers, color enamellers, setters, draughtsmen, etc.
"[19] Likewise, Perri claims that peinetón fabrication was "divided by caste: free Spaniards and mulatos became workshop bosses or foremen, black slaves or freedmen including women and children carried out the manufacture.
"[3] She cited a notice signed by Juan Bracco, a comb manufacturer based at 214 Cuyo street, who requested "(…) 1 or 2 young people of color come down to teach him the trade.
[4] The growth of the peinetón accompanied in a proportionate way that of the sleeves and the skirts (extended with multiple layers of superimposed petticoats), which "transformed the ladies into true walking hourglasses.
[6] Eventually, the size of the peinetón became so large that the passage of women on the narrow sidewalks of the city became complicated, so a police ordinance was issued regulating the right of way for those who walked on the right hand side.
There are numerous iconographic sources that depict the fashion,[4] such as the portraits of elite ladies of Buenos Aires and Montevideo by artists including Charles Pellegrini, Jacobo Fiorini, Jean-Philippe Goulu, Carlos Morel, Fernando García del Molino, Amadeo Gras, Gaetano Gallino and Adolphe Hastrel de Rivedoux.
[3] Among them, Pellegrini's extensive pictorial production stands out, and he has been described as the "graphic historian of peinetones", with the trajectory of the peinetón fashion coulding be followed through his portrait paintings.
[2] It was published in the form of an album and consisted of thirty-six lithographs classified in six booklets (cuadernos), each one dedicated to a peculiarity of Buenos Aires' urban life;[2] being framed within the genre of costumbrismo.
Nothing lends itself more to this air [...] than the way in which they adorn their heads, in which they carry it, accompanying each of its movements with a gesture of arms so soft, so natural, with a turn of hand so light, so often repeated, but so imperceptible that one hardly understands the rapid play of the fan, opening and closing unceasingly!
[31] In Montevideo, poet Francisco Acuña de Figueroa—under the pseudonym Cid Frageiro Fonseca—criticized the trend in a column of newspaper El Investigador of January 23, 1833, titled "Down with peinetas!!".
[24] Several authors interpret the fashion of extravagant peinetones as a way for women to burst in and reaffirm themselves in public space, at a time when they were heavily relegated to domestic life.
Shattering expectations, the emblematic peinetón called into question the exclusivity of male participation in the public sphere by allowing women to improvise their citizenship individually and collaboratively.
The rise and decline of this accessory is intimately linked to the reconfiguration of gender roles through fashion in the postcolonial context, a unique historical moment when certain items of adornment became invested with an influential ideological message.
[34][35] In Uruguay, the Historic Museum at the Montevideo Cabildo has in its collection a series of replicas of original peinetones made by Manuel Hugo Paz Morquio in 1953.
