Wednesday, May 11, 2011

THE CLOCHE HAT STILL IN STYLE...GREAT FOR BEGINNERS

CLOCHE HAT
Absolutely my favorite girly girl hat that is always fashionable to wear.  The "cloche hat" as defined by Wikipedia (Cloche hat) is a fitted, bell shaped invented in 1908. Cloche is the French word for "bell".  During the twentieth century it's popularity influenced the shaping of hairstyles like the Eton crop and was an ideal fashion showcase. They were initially made of felt, designed to be worn low on the forehead with the wearer's eyes only slightly below the brim, commonly worn with the brim turned up.  The hats were decorated with with ribbons, bows, brooches, feathers,etc. 

Often, different styles of ribbons affixed to the hats indicated different messages about the wearer. Several popular messages included: An arrow-like ribbon which indicated a girl was single but had already given her heart to someone, a firm knot which signaled marriage or a flamboyant bow which indicated the wearer was single and interested in mingling.  I've collected quite a number of cloche patterns for knitting as well as crocheting.  I am a bit short on time today, but have a look at the slide show above, these are some cool Cloche's.  Contact me if you are interested in the pattern.  I hope to add the patterns for them later on anyway, but for now I just wanted to share my favorite hat, cant seem to get enough of the many Cloche looks.