Cloche Hats: The Bell-shaped Hats for Women were all the Rage in the 1920s and 1930s

Few accessories defined a decade the way the cloche hat defined the 1920s. Fitted, bell-shaped, and pulled low over the forehead, the cloche was everywhere — on city streets, at race meets, on film sets, and aboard ocean liners. Its name came straight from the French word for bell, and the shape made the reference obvious. French milliner Caroline Reboux created the style in 1908, but it was the 1920s that turned it into a cultural phenomenon.

The cloche worked because of what was happening to women’s hair. Short hairstyles — bobs, shingles, and crops — had made older, wider hat designs look awkward and outdated. The cloche solved that problem entirely. Its helmet-like crown followed the natural curve of the head, hugging the skull from the top down to the nape of the neck. It sat just above the eyes, leaving the face partially framed but the forehead largely hidden. Women often wore the hat tilted over the right eye, which gave the whole look an air of quiet mystery.

The hat’s low fit created an unusual side effect. Because wearing one so close to the eyes made it hard to see the ground, women naturally began tilting their heads back when they walked. This new posture became a recognizable feature of the era — a direct result of a fashion choice, not deliberate style.

Most cloches were made from felt, which molded easily to the head and held its shape well. For summer, milliners turned to sisal and straw, which kept the same silhouette but breathed more easily in warm weather. Evening versions were made from beads or lace, suited to cocktail events, dances, and formal dinners. Bridal cloches were common too, trimmed with lace or constructed entirely from veiling.

Decoration on cloches varied widely. Some were trimmed with a simple ribbon band around the crown. Others featured small jeweled brooches pinned to the front. Some were plain and unadorned. By the mid-1920s, designers were experimenting with velvet bows, feather plumes, pearl beading, and even embroidered musical notes created for opera stars. The cloche was a blank canvas — minimal in structure but open to personalization.

The cloche paired naturally with the dropped-waist dresses and long tunics that defined 1920s daywear. Fashion plates from the period regularly show the hat worn with fur-trimmed coats, pleated skirts, and one-bar shoes. At race meetings and garden parties, the combination of a fitted cloche with a wrap coat and rope of beads was a standard look for well-dressed women.

Hollywood took to the cloche immediately. MGM actresses, silent film stars, and studio publicity portraits all featured the hat prominently. It photographed well — its close fit didn’t create unflattering shadows, and its clean lines suited the black-and-white film stock of the era. Actresses like Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow, Marion Davies, and Greta Garbo were all photographed wearing cloches during the 1920s.

The cloche wasn’t restricted to any one class or setting. Royalty wore it — Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Consort to King George VI, was photographed in one. Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians wore one accompanied by soldiers. Margaret Corbett Ashby, the British suffragist and feminist politician, wore one as the first president of the World League for Women’s Rights. The hat crossed political, social, and national lines.

Sports and outdoor activities were no barrier to the cloche either. Women wore them at archery contests, tennis tournaments, and even car mechanics classes. Photographs from Cannes show tennis players in cloches courtside. At the Cowes Regatta and Epsom Downs Racecourse, women in the stands wore cloches as standard. The hat traveled wherever women did.

Paris drove much of the cloche’s evolution. Designers including Paul Poiret, Jean Patou, Lucien Lelong, and Drecoll all produced garments styled around the hat. Millinery houses crafted versions to match specific outfits — velvet bows for winter coats, straw with leaf decoration for summer dresses, and feathered brims for race day ensembles. A cloche designed by Cyris Slymore with a fur collar was photographed in 1925 as a fashionable standalone accessory. One by Casper Davis, made in pale grey linen with pearl-bead studding and white piqué banding, was described in detail in fashion coverage of the era.

By 1924 and 1925, the cloche was at the height of its popularity. Fashion plates from those years show an almost universal adoption — coats, suits, day dresses, and evening wear all finished with the same close-fitting bell-shaped hat. Variations multiplied: small brims, turned-back brims, dipped brims over one eye, wide turned-down brims for race days. Some versions had pleated folds at the sides and back. The silhouette remained recognizable even as the details shifted.

The headfitting crown is studded with pearl beads and banded with white pique with a fluff of pale grey veiling, tied to one side. Created by Casper Davis.

The cloche’s reach even extended to children’s fashion. Small girls were dressed in cloche-style hats that mirrored adult designs, worn with caped coats for outdoor occasions. The hat’s simple shape scaled down easily, making it as practical for a child at a picnic as for a woman at a garden party.

As the decade moved toward the 1930s, the cloche adapted rather than disappeared. Designers began adding pleated folds to the sides and back, and some styles dipped dramatically over one eye. Veiling and lace trimmings reappeared as hat fashion crept back toward more elaborate designs. The basic shape held, but the strict simplicity of the early 1920s cloche gave way to more decorated and varied interpretations.