Opera hat characteristic snapping sound heard upon opening a gibus suggested a third name, the "chapeau claque", "claque" being the French word for "slap". 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 venues, such as theatre and opera visits. Typically made of satin in black colour, its advantage is that it folds vertically through a push or a snap on the top of the hat, in order to be conveniently stored in a wardrobe or under the seat. Invertably, it opens
Femme au Chapeau (lower right). The work—executed in a style consistent with other works by Metzinger created between 1905 and 1907, such as "Two Nudes in an Exotic Landscape"—is a portrait of an elegant women gazing self-assuredly directly at the spectator, wearing a fashionable wide-brimmed hat with a large green-bleu bow tied in a simple knot. Metzinger's use of color in "Femme au Chapeau" is very closely related to the works of artist directly in his entourage known as the Fauves; quasi-pure greens, blues and violets, juxtaposed in groups far from randomly. However, the composition contains a variety of geometrized shapes, including the