Opera hat

2025-09-16T03:20:13Z

2600:1004:A121:79EB:FC55:6AD6:7B37:E5B7:

{{Short description|Collapsible top hat}}
[[File:Chapeauclaque.png|thumb|right|A collapsible opera hat, open (above) and folded (below).]]

An '''opera hat''', also called a {{lang|fr|'''chapeau claque'''}} or '''gibus''', is a [[top hat]] variant that is collapsible through a [[Spring (device)|spring]] system, originally intended for less spacious indoor 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 a push from underneath.

==Name==
Its French name {{lang|fr|chapeau claque}} is a composition of {{lang|fr|chapeau}}, which means hat, and {{lang|fr|claque}}, which means {{gloss|tap}} or {{gloss|click}}. The {{lang|fr|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''.<ref>[https://www.silktophats.eu/historytophat.html www.silktophats.eu: ''History of the top hat'']</ref>

==History==
[[File:Pierrot du 21 novembre 1926 Chapeau-Claque.jpg|thumb|French comic book from 1926 that exhibits the advantages with the spring device mechanism of the collapsible top hat.]]
The construction may originally have been inspired by a historical hat model called {{lang|fr|chapeau bras}} ({{gloss|arm hat}}), made as [[bicorne]] or [[tricorne]] to be carried folded under the arm.<ref name=quinion>Quinion, Michael. ''Why is Q always followed by U?'' [[Penguin Books]]. 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-141-03924-4}}</ref>

On 5 May 1812, London hatter Thomas Francis Dollman patented a design for "an elastic round hat" supported by ribs and springs. His patent was described as:

{{quote|An elastic round hat, which "may be made of beaver, silk, or other materials." "The top of the crown and about half an inch from the top" as well as "the brim and about an inch, the crown from the bottom" are stiffened in the ordinary manner. The rest of the hat "is left entirely without stiffening," and is kept in shape by ribs of any suitable material "fastened horizontally to the inside of the crown," and by an elastic steel spring from three to four inches long and nearly half an inch wide "sewed on each side of the crown in the inside in an upright position." Then packed up for travelling, "the double ribbon fastened under the band is to be pulled over the top of the crown to keep it in a small compass."<ref>{{cite book|title=Patents for inventions. Abridgments of specifications|date=1874|publisher=Patent Office |url=https://archive.org/details/patentsforinven75offigoog|quote=an elastic round hat.}}</ref>}}

Some sources have taken this to describe an early folding top hat,<ref>{{cite book|last1=de Bono|first1=Edward|title=Eureka! An illustrated history of inventions from the wheel to the computer: a London Sunday times encyclopedia|date=1974|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|location=London|page=88|isbn=978-0-03-012641-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XzLbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22An+elastic+round+hat%22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sichel|first1=Marion|title=The Regency|date=1978|publisher=Batsford|pages=24–25|location=London|isbn=9780713403428}}</ref> although it is not explicitly stated whether Dollman's design was specifically for male or female headgear. Dollman's patent expired in 1825.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Herbert |first1=Luke|title=The Register of Arts, and Journal of Patent Inventions, Volume 4| date=1827| page=64| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BCY1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA64}}</ref> Operating from [[Poissy]], 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''.<ref name="Gibus Opera Hat">{{cite web |url=http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/scripts/viewobject.php?Lang=1&accessnumber=M969.22.5&section=196 |title="Gibus" Opera Hat |publisher=McCord Museum |access-date=2013-07-06 |archive-date=2013-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103204510/http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/scripts/viewobject.php?Lang=1&accessnumber=M969.22.5&section=196 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.villagehatshop.com/pages/hat-glossary |title=Hat Glossary |publisher=Villagehatshop.com |access-date=2024-12-26 }}</ref>

The characteristic snapping sound heard upon opening a gibus suggested a third name, the {{lang|fr|chapeau claque}}, {{lang|fr|claque}} being the French word for {{gloss|slap}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lockhatters.co.uk/History_of_Hats-content.aspx |title=History of Hats |publisher=Lock Hatters |access-date=2013-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907211933/http://www.lockhatters.co.uk/History_of_Hats-content.aspx |archive-date=2015-09-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{clear left}}

==See also==
*[[List of hat styles]]
*[[Opera cloak]]
*[[Opera gloves]]
*[[Opera glasses]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Opera hats}}
* ''[https://www.bellenger.fr/Gibus/wa_files/gibus.pdf Les Gibus une famille de chapelier]'' (in French)

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[[Category:Hats]]
[[Category:Formal wear]]

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Opera hat