I posted this comment in Mudcat's Happy Inauguration Day! thread:

For what it's worth, I think that Aretha Franklin's hat was a stylish replication of traditional Nigerian women's headwraps {which are called "geles" {pronounced gay-lays]in the USA anyway. I'm not sure which language the word "gele" is from.


This website has a number of photos of Nigerian women's headwraps.