Headdress for Gelede (Igi)

The Yoruba masquerade festival called Gelede is a dazzling spectacle that honors the spiritual power of female elders, ancestors, and deities—known collectively as Our Mothers—entertaining them in order to benefit from their supernatural gifts. During the festivities, men dance in matched pairs of headdresses. Gelede headdresses often portray women. One of these depicts a woman wearing a head tie, while the other shows a woman with a plaited hairstyle. The male performers’ costumes would have also included ample breasts, hips, and buttocks and cloth wrappers borrowed from local women, presenting an exaggerated vision of femininity.