An opera hat also called a chapeau claque or gibus is a

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally m ...

variant that is collapsible through a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a h ...

system, originally intended for less spacious venues, such as the theatre and opera house. Typically made of black satin, it folds vertically through a push or a snap on the top of the hat for convenient storage in a wardrobe or under the seat. It opens with an easy push from underneath.

Name

Its French name "chapeau claque" is a composition of ''chapeau'', which means hat, and ''claque'', which means "tap" or "click". The "chapeau claque" is thus a hat that folds with a click, and unfolds likewise. In English, the hat model is usually referred to as a ''collapsible top-hat'', ''gibus'' or more often ''opera hat''.

History

Pierrot du 21 novembre 1926 Chapeau-Claque

The construction may originally have been inspired by a historical hat model called "chapeau bras" ("arm hat"), made as

bicorne The bicorne or bicorn (two-cornered) is a historical form of hat widely adopted in the 1790s as an item of uniform by European and American army and naval officers. Most generals and staff officers of the Napoleonic period wore bicornes, wh ...

tricorne The tricorne or tricorn is a style of hat that was popular during the 18th century, falling out of style by 1800, though actually not called a "tricorne" until the mid-19th century. During the 18th century, hats of this general style were referr ...

to be carried folded under the armQuinion, Michael. ''Why is Q always followed by U?''

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Poissy Poissy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Inhabitan ...

, Paris, France, around 1840, Antoine Gibus's design for a spring-loaded collapsible top-hat proved so popular that hats made to it became known as ''gibus''. They were also often called ''opera hats'' due to the common practice of storing them in their flattened state under one's seat at the opera, though the term can also refer to any tall formal men's hat. The characteristic snapping sound heard upon opening a gibus suggested a third name, the ''chapeau claque'', "claque" being the French word for "slap".

Gallery

Collapsible opera hat.JPG, ''Collapsible opera hat (top hat)'' in a semi-folded state. Gentlemannen - om män och mode - Hallwylska museet - 85834.tif, Opera hat as seen on

Hallwyl Museum Hallwyl Museum ( sv, Hallwylska museet) is a Swedish national museum housed in the historical Hallwyl House in central Stockholm located on 4, Hamngatan facing Berzelii Park. The house once belonged to the Count and Countess von Hallwyl, but w ...

, Stockholm, Sweden, with walking cane and

hat box A hat box (also commonly hatbox and sometimes hat bucket, hat tin or bandbox) is a container for storing and transporting headgear, protecting it from damage and dust. A more generic term for a box used to carry garments, including headgear, is ...

. Hutkarton von A. Köhlborm aus Minden in Westfalen 3.jpg,

Hat box A hat box (also commonly hatbox and sometimes hat bucket, hat tin or bandbox) is a container for storing and transporting headgear, protecting it from damage and dust. A more generic term for a box used to carry garments, including headgear, is ...

for a folded opera hat, c. 1900–1925. Collapsible top hat IMGP9677.jpg, Collapsible top hat upside down (2011). (Albi) L'Homme au gibus - Edgar Degas - Musée Toulouse-Lautrec.jpg, ''L'Homme au gibus'' - Edgar Degas - Musée Toulouse-Lautrec Albi

In popular culture

In the nursery rhyme adapted from the sixteenth-century ballad, ''A Frog He Would A Wooing Go'', the titular frog sets off to woo "with his opera hat." During an attack by a cat and her kittens, the frog escapes but "picks up his hat" before leaving. A chapeau claque is an inherent element of the stage image of Krzysztof Grabowski - the leader of Polish punk-rock band Pidżama Porno. In the Russian children's books and subsequent animated features about Gena the Crocodile, the main villain is an elderly lady named Shapoklyak, the Russified form of chapeau claque. She also wears one. In the

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

video game ''

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' mod for '' Quake'' and its 1999 remake, ''Team Fortress Classic''. The game was rel ...

'', one of the most common hats equippable by the players is called the Ghostly Gibus, one of the few hats in the game that can be obtained without spending any money. Other variants of this hat are the Ghastly Gibus, the Ghastlier Gibus, and the Ghastlierest Gibus.

References

External links

*
Les Gibus une famille de chapelier
' (in French) {{Authority control Hats Formal wear