I am a wee bit intimidated by the idea of cataloging my hats, so I’m taking it style by style. (Also, season by season: right now I have fall/winter hats out and the spring/summer hats in hat boxes. Just like my grandmother, twice a year the hat boxes come down from the high shelves and the hats are swapped out.)

I will work through the in-season hats first. You’re going to have to forgive the photo quality — the battery in my digital camera doesn’t hold a charge, and I took these in poor lighting with my phone.

That said, here are my cloches. A cloche is a bell-shaped hat, usually made of felt, that fits closely on the head. They originated in the early twentieth century and were popular through the 1920s and early 1930s.

I like cloches because of their shape, and because they seem to pull an outfit together better than a lot of other styles. They are a dressier hat than almost any other style I own. That said, they only provide minimal protection from the rain (vis-a-vis my eyeglasses) so I’m more likely to wear them on a cool day without much rain, when I’m dressed up.