Ma Belle: Chanel's Way with a Cloche

The word cloche means "bell" in French, and it has two distinctly different usages in English. Gardeners use bell-shaped glass cloches to protect young plants from wind and rain.

Vintage fashion fans--especially those disposed to 20s era styles--know cloches as the brimless hats which typically swoop just over kohl-rimmed eyes.

Karl Lagerfeld has managed, brilliantly, to combine the two forms in one for his Fall/Winter 09/10 Haute Couture collection (picture top left). I love these hybrids of coverage and transparency, hat and veil. Sadly, I could find no vintage correlate: they are truly original fashion.

(photo top from www.telegraph.co.uk, by AFP/AP)