From ancient crowns and Central Asian bridal headdresses to African headwraps and the dazzling hats of the Bahamas’ Junkanoo, headdresses have always communicated identity, status, heritage and celebration. We brought diplomatic representatives and models from around the world to Washington, D.C., for a vibrant photo shoot celebrating the history, meaning and creativity behind these extraordinary traditions.
Rebekah Gleaves Sanderlin
Twenty-three female ambassadors gathered at Washington’s historic Willard Hotel to share how they broke barriers, navigated bias, balanced family life and built careers representing their nations at the highest levels of diplomacy.
Morocco was the world’s first nation to recognize the United States of America. In December 1777—before the Revolutionary War had been won, before the Constitution had been written, before American power was anything more than ambition —Morocco’s Sultan Mohammed III issued a decree opening Moroccan ports to US ships. It was a quiet signal to the world that he believed the young republic deserved a place among nations.
