Kazakh traditional bridal headdress is called “saukele”. It is a large, cone-shaped item, richly embellished. It was really expensive and showed off the wealth of the bride’s family. The headpiece was adorned with real precious stones, gold and silver coins, pearls, corals, tiny silver pendants, feathers, tassels, fur trimming, and other elaborate decorations.
The artisans usually started working on the saukele about a year before the wedding because it took a lot of time and money to create it. The headdress also traditionally had long and intricate pendants that were attached to the hat and hang to the waist of a bride. Very often, the bottom ends of such pendants were put into special pockets on the women’s dress because otherwise, they would tear under the weight because the pendants were made of beads, silver jewelry items, and other heavy elements put on a long thread.
