Gunnilde's Horns
- alicecoldbreath
- Jul 4
- 2 min read
I have had a few readers reach out to me with questions about Gunnilde’s hair horns, from “A Most Forgettable Girl”, so I commissioned some artist impressions to try and capture the ones I had in mind when writing them.
The picture above is a variation of the “Ram’s Horn” style where braids are coiled to create the effect. You can see a few different versions of this hairstyle in medieval depictions if you google ‘medieval rams horn hairstyle’.
The style above is based on the idea of the hair being raised up onto the brows in horn-like shapes as depicted in the “Arnolfini Wedding Portrait”. I have seen this style referred to as ‘cornettes’ but others refer to that as a type of headdress, so I didn’t like to call it that.
I’ll put a link here to the wedding portrait so you can see it with a veil. Jan van Eyck | The Arnolfini Portrait | NG186 | National Gallery, London As you can see the horns are placed at her temples, so a veil does not obscure them.
Also, I think the hair would be centre-parted and then sectioned from the part to be drawn into the wrapped hair, but the artist here conveyed them further back and sort of ‘placed them’ on top the rest of the hair. I’m sure it is my fault – it is not easy to describe hairstyles in text which is probably why a lot of you were also confused!
This final depiction shows the style that James thinks look like puffed pastries that the street vendors sell!
Truly, Gunnilde is adventurous when it comes to styling her abundant hair. Which style do you like best?
~ Alice
My favorite is no.1 although I confess I did not imagine any of your descriptions on this style which is my favorite style and the reason I have been growing my hair for the last 2 years to look thus. And although I currently sport my hair mid back I still cannot achieve it to my satisfaction. I identified with Gunnilde's abundance of hair for I myself have it in abundance, whenever an author expresses what I assume for them is a lot of hair it amusses me to know they are describing my hair and there for it shocks not! Like for example, saying a braid is as thick as a fist, I had no idea that thickness is…
1 as it reminds me of Princess Leia's hairstyle in the original in Star Wars, but #3 for myself! I think I could attempt a baby version of this but my hair is just below my shoulder blades so it wouldn't have the full Medieval effect. 🪮
I like number one the best. I really enjoyed her adventures and how she evolved from the first time you introduced her thank you for being such a great author and especially for being such a great personable person that makes yourself available to your fans. God bless.