Aiguillette

For shoelace tips, see aglet.
Commissioned officers (front row) and non-commissioned officers (second row) of the Household Cavalry in full dress wearing aiguillettes
Bundle of 20 braided gold and silver laces with stamped brass tags or aiglets, first half of the 17th century

An aiguillette (French: [ɛɡɥijɛt] ⓘ, from aiguille, "needle"), also spelled aguillette, aiglet or aglet, is a cord with metal tips or lace tags, or the decorative tip itself.[1]: 4 [2]

Functional or purely decorative fasteners of silk cord with metal tips were popular in the 16th and early 17th centuries, sometimes of gold set with gemstones or enameled, are generally called "aiglets", "aglets" or "points".[2][3]: 97 

In modern usage, an "aiguillette" is an ornamental braided cord with decorative metal tips worn on uniforms or as part of other costumes such as academic dress,[1] where it will denote an honour. This usage of "aiguillette" derives from lacing used to fasten plate armor together. As such, a knot or loop arrangement was used which sometimes hung from the shoulder.

These aiguillettes should not be confused with lanyards, which are cords also worn from the shoulder (or around the neck), but do not have the pointed aiguillette tips and are usually of fibre rather than gold or silver wire, and often not braided.

The modern aglet or shoelace tip and the decorative tips on bolo ties are types of aiguillettes.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Picken-1957 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Gaimster-Hayward-Mitchell-and-Parker-2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Scarisbrick-1995 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).