30's Beret

[John in Covina]

I Spy!

I had to be dragged out of his museum/house when I was in Paris.

*******
Sose craizee americans, agent provacetuer!

 

[gekisai29]

the Bwear caps look awesome. i can't believe that countless hours of searching the net never revealed this site to me. definirtely will be ordrering one in time for Spring convertible season.

 

[geo]

Matt, Rodin wears an Alpine beret. They are still worn in the French army by mountain troops (where they go by the name of "pancake"), although they wear it tilted on one side. Here's a picture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chasseur_alpin_FAMAS.gif

A French tradition is to tilt the beret to the left; it's tilted to the right in the other countries.

 

[scotrace]

When I say full crowned beret I mean full crowned like those worn by Rodin.

Or you could make one, though these look a little like they need some sauce, cheese and peperoni:

 

[scotrace]

But back to the thirties

Would the Basque Beret that is the subject of the first post be worn by both men and women?

 

[Matt Deckard]

Would the Basque Beret that is the subject of the first post be worn by both men and women?

Of course!

 

[nightandthecity]

I have a big collection of vintage berets and have bought about a dozen from this ebay seller. She?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s been selling them for around a year now. As best as I can calculate she found around 1000, boxed, unworn, mostly medium/large sizes, and she has loads left. Unleashing this kind of quantity on the market should have made prices fall, in fact it seems to have had the opposite effect - I believe it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s called a self generated market.

Two words of warning -

First, she reckons they are from the thirties and forties. She is a totally honest person and may well be right, but I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m not as confident. The shop they came from closed in the 60s, so I reckon they are more likely to be from the 50s and 60s. Its hard to date real Basque berets from label graphics, details and quality because they haven?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t really changed - I have had had berets from the 70s and 80s with labels as vintage looking as these.

Second - this will bring someone?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s wrath down on me - if you want just one vintage beret the British Army ones from the 40s and 50s are the best - way better quality than these. Really thick, smooth felt, fully lined, air vents, leather bands - and usually dated too! The style is slightly different because they are worn band-out. The old Canadian army ones are similar but not generally as good. Modern British berets are not as good either, and sized like skull caps.

Finally - this will probably bring down mucho wrath as well - I think the beret is the ultimate hat. It has that pure beauty that comes from perfect functionality allied to simplicity. It does the job, and in the simplest, most straightforward way. It keeps you warm and dry but lets your head breathe. It is genuinely four season and totally unisex. You can roll it up and stuff it in your pocket and it pops right back into shape. Plus it goes with anything from jeans to a suit. Discuss.

 

[nightandthecity]

I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m interested in precisely when and where berets became ubiquitous in France. In photos from mid-1930s France the casquette or flat cap and the trilby/fedora are much commoner than berets. In photos from the 1940s it seems to be the other way round. So it could be that it wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t until the late 1930s/1940s.

On the other hand, the 1930s pics I have seen are mostly from Paris and the north, while the 1940s pics are often from the centre/south, so berets could have been more of a southern regional thing. That would make sense because the place where berets were definitely ubiquitous in the 30s (and probably earlier) is Spain. Either way berets seem to have pretty much gone out of fashion in France by the 1970s/80s

Berets were also popular in the rest of Europe in the 30s 40s and 50s, though not as much as in France and Spain. In 1950s Britain they were often worn by ex-servicemen as work-wear.

If I am right it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s odd that the beret has become quite so closely associated with France - just as its odd that the flat cap has become so closely associated with Britain, and often simply with the northern English working-class. Both berets and flat caps were worn throughout Europe, and it looks to me as if the beret was either a shortlived fad in France or more of a regional, southern thing.

Anyway - I'd love to hear what other people think about this. In the meantime I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll try and post some pics of French and Spanish hat wearing from the 30s and 40s?¢‚Ǩ¬¶I know I have some in my files.

 

[Lauren]

Berets were VERY fashionable in the early to mid 30's, then again in the mid 40's in America for women.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The Basques have been wearing berets since forever.

In the South American pampas and in Patagonia, where many Basques emigrated and settled, beret-wearing is par for the course. They don't call it a beret, but a "boina". It's the close-fitting kind, not the floppy alpine type.

 

[Matt Deckard]

I'd have worn one in France though they would have taken me for a tourist. That's why I wore a fedora... Americans were asking me for directions in broken French... Somtimes I just gave out blank stares and shrugged shoulders.

 

[Richard]

the beret

i recently bought and wear a new beret from village hats vilhat.com in san diego. I can tell you this; it's high quality. it looks totally foreign. My friends and co-workers burst out laughing when they see it. I like th way it feels, ventilation, warmth, very eccentric looking for nowadays. it's definitely in my repertoire, the wool is high quality, and it was on sale for 36.oo made in the basque region of spain. It does feel like I'm kind of being nutty with my beret but it's a good hat and really, better in some ways than a beanie because it doesn't cling to your head.

 

[herringbonekid]

Some lucky guy won this:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/French-Vintage-Veritable-Basque-Beret-1930s-Unworn_W0QQitemZ8382078547QQcategoryZ91238QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I like it when a hat or beret is plain on the outside, but has a colourful lining and label. These "Niebla" ones are of the highest quality and fetch the highest prices. The label is woven and embroidered.

i just won one of this seller's berets. nothing wrong with it at all, except it doesn't suit me. i can't really say why. maybe it just looks too 'comedy frenchman' on me or too 'pretentious artiste' or too 'frank spencer' but something just isn't working. damn.

 

[BellyTank]

A lot of Danish Gents wear Berets-
Just an observation from the State where something is rotten...

B
T

 

[besdor]

You need to have a certain type of body build to wear a beret . When a customer asks for one , if they have a full face , I don't recommend it . It's better for for people with a thinner build .:cool2:

 

[Magus]

Berets really are not worn by men in the Ile de France. When you go the the other regions though you will see many an farmer putting along on a tractor with one perched on his head. or a businessman off to the office with one. I have a vintage one and use it during cold weather...mainly when I travel as that dosn't come around much here in SO Cal. That and my 8 pannel wool dockworkers hat are the ultimate in travel chappeaus. Roll them, fold then, stuff them in a suitcase, backpack or pocket, abuse them...and wear them they just work.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

I like mine

I bought one also at alot better price

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8382085460&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

I got mine it took about 10 days and the nice thing it measures 10.5 inches across the top. I'm very happy with it and the lady seller is very nice to deal with....

 

[feltfan]

You need to have a certain type of body build to wear a beret . When a customer asks for one , if they have a full face , I don't recommend it . It's better for for people with a thinner build .:cool2:

Depends on the beret and the person. My father did not
have a thin build and pulled off a beret just fine. All sorts
of country folks wear them in Northern Spain and Southern France...

Unfortunately, that seller does not seem to have any
vintage berets in larger sizes.

BTW, I once wore a beret up in the California Sierras,
at a place that rented innertubes for sledding. I had on
a very un-French striped sweater (Equadoran, actually),
but when I ignored one of the employees there, he tried
to address me in French... Then I really ignored him.

 

[BellyTank]

Basque Berets in Action-

B
T

 

[Marc Chevalier]

So that's the Ku Klux Klan wear when their heads get cold!


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