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- Cloches and the Twenties World
Cloches and the Twenties World
- By Joel Kirby
- Published 01/16/2008
- Headwear - Hats
- Unrated
There are different types of cloche hats. One of the important areas of design for a hat is the crown area. Cloches were unique hats of the twenties. They shaped and fitted the crown and they could adorn and accentuate the nape and neck area in an interesting way. The whole area of throat and nape going to the head crown is an interesting design area. It is known that the popularity of cloches were directly linked to the boyishly cropped hairstyles of women at that time. Cloches are certainly not as important as they were but they can be re-styled and the question of fabric is important. Is velvet a suitable fabric for a cloche? Velvet is an important hat fabric. And you can buy velvet hats and cloches for very reasonable prices but you can also find a more fitted cloche hat made of velvet for prices above $100. If a woman has long and curly hair or hair at least nape-length, then the cloche may not necessarily be used to get the 20s boyish look and you can get a cloche for a reasonable price. Still it is perhaps possible to get a cloche for hairstyles that are not cut in a boyish style.
Cloches may not necessarily have to shape the head and give the whole twenties look. If you are not looking for this, then a certain lavish cloche made of velvet is suitable. You can get a wider type of cloche thus. Some cloches as worn by Josephine Baker were pulled to the ear or behind the ear. They had noticeable shape and direction going from the crown to the area of the nape. And the length of the cloche at the forehead was important. However details like this can be overlooked and cloche hats can be found for reasonable prices. If you are not looking for a specifically 20s look, then you can get hats with a general but not a particular or detailed cloche look.
Cloche design is interesting. You may associate cloches with short boyish hair.
The twenties look as regards fashion is characterised by an emphasis on lines and there is a certain angularity and linearity in its fashion. With cloches, even though these are head accessories, there is a straightness and linearity about them. Perhaps this is connected with the close form of the cloche, the way it moulds the head and in this way you can say there is a closeness, a linearity in the way the cloche moulds and hugs the head. Catsuits are linear in the sense that they mould the body in a certain respect and one can say the same about cloches in the way they mould the head.
The interesting thing about 20s as well as earlier fashions in the use of extras like embroidery and that is why it is perhaps difficult to re-create the world of the 20s as regards fashion for example. It is the same as regards interior design perhaps. Different techniques were used and designers were perhaps pre-occupied with different things. Some twenties cloches have noticeable added design elements such as use of pleating and the brim itself was a noticeable area of design for the twenties hat.
