A small, round, brimless hat that sits flat on top of the head, popular in mid-20th century women's fashion.
Named for its resemblance to the small, cylindrical boxes used to store pills in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The hat style became iconic when Jackie Kennedy wore pink Chanel pillbox hats, but the term predates her fashion influence by decades. Military fortifications called 'pillboxes' share the same name and cylindrical shape, creating an unusual connection between women's fashion, pharmacy containers, and wartime defense structures.
The pillbox hat connects Jackie Kennedy's iconic style to both old-fashioned medicine bottles and WWII bunkers—all three share the same compact, cylindrical shape that made this simple geometric form a symbol of mid-century sophistication.
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