Eighteen-Forties Friday: When Hat is Flat
A French political cartoon of 1848 (detail) shows "Le peuple" (in phrygian cap) crushing the hat of Guizot with the quip, "Tiens, Guisot, avec ton chapeau je te fais un Gibus" (Here, Guisot, with your hat I'll make you a Gibus). Paris Musées collection.
Gibus, Gibus hat
(M)
Period: 1840s onwards.
A top hat with a collapsible crown, the sides of which contained, concealed within the lining, a metal “lazy tongs”; when flat the hat could be carried under the arm. Worn with evening dress and replacing the earlier elastic round hat. Named after its inventor.
— Valerie Cumming, The Dictionary of Fashion History
The inventor of the Gibus was Antoine Gibus, and his creations were also called opera hats (because they easily folded to be stored under the seat at the opera), and chapeaux claques, from the clicking sound when collapsed.
Victor Hugo owned one in the 1840s, as revealed in an 1847 letter from his mistress Juliette Drouet (also in the Paris Musées) with the line: Mon pauvre petit Toto tiens bien ton Gibus. (My poor little Toto hold on to your Gibus). I just wanted to find a picture of this stupid hat and not learn about Victor Hugo's weird pet names, but here we are.
1840s fashion plate, showing the gentleman holding his flattened Gibus hat in one hand (British Museum).
