Opera hat
An opera hat, also called a chapeau claque or gibus, is a top hat variant that is collapsible through a 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 chapeau claque is a composition of chapeau, which means hat, and claque, which means or. 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
The construction may originally have been inspired by a historical hat model called chapeau bras, made as bicorne or tricorne to be carried folded under the arm.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:
Some sources have taken this to describe an early folding top hat, although it is not explicitly stated whether Dollman's design was specifically for male or female headgear. Dollman's patent expired in 1825. 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.
The characteristic snapping sound heard upon opening a gibus suggested a third name, the chapeau claque, claque being the French word for.