The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fontange \Fon`tange"\, n. [F., from the name of the first
wearer, Mlle. de Fontanges, about 1679.]
A kind of tall headdress formerly worn.
--Addison.
Wiktionary
n. A headdress popular among aristocrats in Europe in the late 17th century and early 18th century, made with pleated layers of starched lace and ribbon.
Wikipedia
A fontange, or frelange, is a high headdress popular during the turn of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Europe. Technically, fontanges are only part of the assembly, referring to the ribbon bows which support the frelange. The frelange was supported by a wire framework called a commode. A surviving example of a frelange headdress with fontanges and commode in situ is that worn by the 1690s fashion doll Lady Clapham. In England, the style was popularly known as a 'top-knot', versions of which were worn by ladies of all ranks, from the Queen downwards to kitchen maids, making it an easy target for satire and criticism.
The fontange is said to be named for the Marquise de Fontange, a mistress of King Louis XIV of France. One version of the story is that after losing her cap while hunting with the King, the Marquise tied her hair up using a ribbon in a manner that pleased him, and this was imitated by the other ladies at court, subsequently spreading across Europe. What started out as a simple headdress of folded ribbon in the 1680s became, with additional fabric, lace and trimmings, taller and more complex, increasingly difficult to create and wear. Despite its courtly origins, fontanges were forbidden to be worn at French state occasions, although the English court accepted them, with Queen Mary having her portrait painted wearing one.
The term "fontange" is also used by some writers to refer to the associated hairstyle or the combination of headdress and hairstyle. The 'fontange coiffure' was a hairstyle where the front of the hair was worn curled and piled high above the forehead in front of the frelange, which was always higher than the hair. Sometimes the hairstyle was supported by a wire framework called a pallisade.
Usage examples of "fontange".
A ribboned fontange snagged in her hair, tilted drunkenly as she raised her head, then slithered to the floor unheeded.
If I were as beautiful and as rich as the Marquise de Fontange, I should certainly not let them out of my hands.
The Duchess of Fontanges must not enjoy her victory, nor must Louis escape punishment for his faithlessness.
Two days afterwards, Mademoiselle de Fontanges was seen in the salon of the grand table.
Mademoiselle de Fontanges, given to the King by her shameless family, feigned love and passion for the monarch, as though he had returned by enchantment to his twentieth year.
All that I was soliciting for twelve years, Mademoiselle de Fontanges had only to desire for a week.
The Duchesse de Fontanges, doubtless, believed herself Queen, because she had the public homage and the King.
The Infanta reddened with disapproval, and persuaded herself, by way of consolation, that Fontanges had lost her senses or was on the road to madness.
Fifteen or twenty days before the death of Mademoiselle de Fontanges, my sister and I were taking a walk in the new woods of Versailles.
The first blow of the hammer was struck, by some inconceivable fortuity, at the moment when the Duchesse de Fontanges expired.
The unexpected and almost sudden decease of Mademoiselle de Fontanges had singularly moved the King.
And after what has befallen Mademoiselle de Fontanges, we must consider ourselves as persons already numbered, who wait only for the call.
The King, consoled as he was for the death of the Duchesse de Fontanges, did not, on that account, return to that sweet and agreeable intimacy which had united us for the space of eleven or twelve years.
The King took as much pleasure in this sight as if Fontanges had been the heroine of the fete, and our ladies, to please him, made their hands sore in applauding.
Mademoiselle de Fontanges lay in her coffin, recovering from her confinement.