The peinetón is a large, decorative comb that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and became very fashionable among its female inhabitants as well as those of Montevideo, Uruguay between the late 1820s and the mid to late 1830s. Although its origin can be traced back to the traditional Spanish peineta, the peinetón derived into a different headpiece altogether, both for its physical characteristics as well as for the symbolic meanings around its use. The peineta was introduced to Buenos Aires around 1815 and, as early as 1824, interest began to grow in larger and more elaborate models, eventually giving rise to the peinetón that had its heyday between 1830 and 1837. The accessory emerged during the Romantic era of Western fashion, and was worn alongside dresses with small waists and large, voluminous sleeves.

1830s fashion in Western and Western-influenced fashion is characterized by an emphasis on breadth, initially at the shoulder and later in the hips, in contrast to the narrower silhouettes that had predominated between 1800 and 1820.