Tudor Bonnets!

I have been on a Tudor England kick of late, reading Alison Wier's Innocent Traitor, Sarah Gristwood's Arbella, and Vanora Bennet's Portrait of an Unknown Woman. I highly recommend the first, advocate Wikipedia as a viable alternative for the second, and can't give an opinion of the third as I'm not finished with it. Apparently it's based on the theory presented at http://www.holbeinartworks.org , though if you can make sense of what this guy is on about you're a more patient person than I. Why is it that the webpages of all conspiracy theorists, religious fanatics and alternate historians are alike? It's like someone somewhere decided that the most effective way to push a radical idea was through a juxtaposition of huge text, tiny text, animated gifs and nonsensical paragraph placement all splattered over a single really long page, preferably with a psychedelic background. It's probably the case that these peoples' minds are so full of big ideas that they can't wrap their heads around basic HTML.
Anyway, I got to surfing for portraits from the Tudor era. I remember seeing one in person at one of the on-campus museums at Brown, and remember the stunning realism of the subject's (in this case a woman) clothing and jewels. Even when scrutinized at a close distance the pearls on this woman's sleeve looked perfect.
Like the good nerd that I am, I was thrilled when I stumbled across a site with instructions on how to make a Tudor Gabled Bonnet. If Anne Boleyn is more your style than Catherine of Aragon, you can also make yourself a French Hood.

I don't go to cosplay or renfaires. I don't LARP. Frankly, the concept of LARPing weirds me out. But sometimes, when I'm alone, I take the blue and white kimono in my closet, dress up in it and sashay around the appartment.