The Confidential: The Knit Cap That Wouldn’t Come Off

My Culture Moment that Could Be Behind the Times But Still Trying to Decode

At a cooking class in Beaune last week, I watched a young woman politely decline to remove her knit cap when asked to check it. “It’s part of my look,” she said, smiling. It wasn’t defensive, just certain.

A few nights later, at dinner at the Comte de Puligny-Montrachet, another guest — well-dressed, clearly raised with manners — kept his on through the …