I was flipping channles and saw that TVLand is showing The Flying Nun. I was always curious about the head dress (coronet?) that the sisters in the convent wore. What’s the signifigance of the shape? Origin? I recall seeing a painting in which a nun is wearing the same thing.
Different orders wear (or wore) habits adopted at about the time that each order was founded. They were frequently based on nothing more than a simplified version of the clothing of a typical woman of the aristocracy or the merchant class at the time of the founding. (It being unlikely that a peasant woman would be able to get the funding to organize a community or to have the connections to get support from the local bishop to actually found an order.)
The Flying Nun’s habit is loosely based of, (i.e. it’s a parody of), the habits of some orders organized in the late Medieval or early Renaissance period in the lowlands (Flanders, Holland, etc.) where those winged head pieces were popular at the time.
A cornette (also spelled “cornet”, like the musical instrument) is the traditional headdress of the order known as the Sisters of Charity. A coronet is a small crown.
Trivia: Before she became Sister Bertrille, what was the name of the character played by Sally Field on The Flying Nun?
Elsie Ethrington.
… and y’all should watch the movie BEDAZZLED – not the dreadful recent remake with Brendan Wossname, but the original British version from about 1967 with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. The final wish involves the jumping nuns, who try to jump to heaven on trampolines.
So that’s where The Man Show got the idea! 