An opera hat, also called a French: '''chapeau claque''' or gibus, is a top hat variant that is collapsible through a spring 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.
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.[1]
The construction may originally have been inspired by a historical hat model called "chapeau bras" ("arm hat"), made as bicorne or tricorne to be carried folded under the arm[2]
On May 5, 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,[3] [4] although it is not explicitly stated whether Dollman's design was specifically for male or female headgear. Dollman's patent expired in 1825.[5] 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.[6] [7] 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".[8]