{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O356048"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O356048/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2012FU8715/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2012FU8715/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2012FU8715","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011FD3342","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV9188","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MU6561","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O356048","accessionNumber":"T.46-1932","objectType":"Top hat and box","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The first collapsible top hat was invented as a matter of convenience in the early nineteenth-century, when the increasingly extravagant dimensions of the still recently-developed style had begun to cause problems in theatre cloakrooms. The first model was produced in France by Antoine Gibus, from whom the style took its name, though they were also known as 'opera hats', due to their provision of convenience and requisite style when attending cultural events, and also as 'chapeau claques', after the clicking sound made by one when opened.\n\nThe top hat was the head-covering of choice for nineteenth-century gentlemen, and for those who wished to look like gentlemen, and maintaining an image of urbanity and authority was of great importance at all times.\n\nThis example's modest proportions are very typical of the very end of the nineteenth-century, when the top hat, going the same way as the powdered wig as a superfluous symbol of a parasitic aristocracy, was finally beginning to go out of fashion.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"satin","id":"AAT132902"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Black satin","categories":[{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Evening wear","id":"THES48999"},{"text":"Formal wear","id":"THES48950"},{"text":"Hats and headwear","id":"THES48943"},{"text":"Men's clothes","id":"THES49043"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"},{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"},{"text":"Household objects","id":"THES48939"},{"text":"Shekou","id":"THES279777"},{"text":"Values of Design","id":"THES279818"},{"text":"Design Society","id":"THES279819"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2012FU8715","2011FD3342","2017JV9188","2021MU6561"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"015","id":"THES305981"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES326196"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Top hat","id":""}],[{"text":"Box","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1890s","earliest":"1890-01-01","latest":"1899-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given as part of a man's costume by Mrs. Ferraboschi, 5th December 1932.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"196","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"99","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"203","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Gibus'-style top hat of black satin and box covered with brown canvas, French, late-19th century","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.46-1932","T.46A-1932"],"accessionNumberNum":"46","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1932,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Top hat","Box"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-11","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}