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Growing up, if I went too far over the fashion edge, my mum would laugh at me. In a good-natured, "c'mon, honey, surely you agree that it's unnecessary to line up safety pins on one's jeans" kind of way.

Then I grew my own get-over-it monitor. My fierce, funny, tomboy daughter takes a much less subtle approach: She dings me in the head daily with paper airplanes bearing the slogan "Fashion sucks!"

Thus it is with some trepidation that I approach the return of the cloche. I tend to think of hats as dodgy to start with, but have had to concede on this point as lids have galloped back into fashion over the past few seasons, first the newsboy cap, then the beret, now the bowler, the top hat and the cloche.

Cloches can be quite costumey - they make me think of a coquettish Julia from Brideshead Revisited (notable for her flapper gear and Waugh's plot point involving a suitor emblazoning a turtle with her initials in gemstones as a gift).

The look was born in the twenties, in the millinery shops attached to the then-great couture houses of Paris. Meant to be worn low on the brow, the wearer had to look down her nose, lending an air of snootiness to the look.

Cloches also add an illusion of height; the bell shape (hence the name) also works best on a smaller head (as in not mine, nor any of my kin).

Our original appeared on the Max Azria runway (for styling purposes only), livening a dowdy outfit; the Winners knockoff is a steal at $24.99.

This is the perfect accessory for the season's hit hairdo, the Daisy Buchanan bob.

As for me, I put the darned thing on and flinch, expecting an incoming airplane. My officemates take up the slack where mum and kid leave off: "Yup, Leanne, you look like you're off to solve a mystery!"

No sale, Sherlock.

ldelap@globeandmail.com