Berets, Anyone?

[rlk]

Tolosa Tupida Algodon

Faded Maroon color

 

[EggHead]

Thanks for the close-up picture rlk!

 

[DanielJones]

Cheers!

Dan

 

[EggHead]

"I hunting whabbit felts"

 

[Daan]

I am intrigued by the Argentine algodon berets. What's your experience in wearing/handling them? I would like to see a grey one on your site.
As far as the eggshell berets, it's is not something I would want to put on my egghead

Sure, some cotton berets in grey:

Boina Espinosa Algodon

Boina Tolosa Tupida Algodon 31cm (similar to Rlk's maroon beret, above)

Boina Tolosa Tupida Algodon 35cm

In my experience, they come close the the ideal beret - wearing mine year-round (generally alternating with the merino version of the Tolosa Tupida).
The Espinosa is a bit small, to my liking (being tall and blessed with a big head); I prefer the T.T. in 31cm or, on these very sunny and hot days down under, the 35cm diameter (but you may have to build up a bit of courage for that one - it really is big!).

They're all available here and for the plato grande, here.

A bit of background information: these berets were developed by Bonigor SA in Buenos Aires in the mid 1990's. Argentina was deep in it's financial/economic crisis and beret sales dropped to an absolute minimum; the company struggled. The (5th generation Basque) owner, brainstorming on how to survive, came up with the ideas of making Basque berets in cotton, which sounds simpler than it was as it proved difficult to get the right pattern and stiffness (the test: pick a beret up at it's txortena and see if it holds it's shape - other cotton berets will just sadly drop).
Against expectations, the cotton berets were a big success, especially among the peasants and gauchos (or cowboys) who wear them as a great protection from the sun that isn't too warm to wear.

 

[bolthead]

Finally....

I finally got the Beret I been wanting. More to follow when it arrives.

 

[Daan]

Wally Byam berets

An interesting group of beret enthusiasts are the owners of Airstream caravans. The following was copied from www.airstream.com:

In 1929, Wally Byam purchased a Model T Ford chassis, built a platform on it, towed it with his car to a campsite, and painstakingly erected a tent on it. The effort was tiresome and unpleasant, especially when it rained. Spurred on by his first wife Marion, Wally built a tear-drop-shaped permanent shelter on the platform that enclosed a small ice chest and kerosene stove.

He then published an article that ran under the headline, "How to Build a Trailer for One Hundred Dollars." Readers wrote Wally for more detailed instruction plans, which he sold at a cost of one dollar each. The response was extraordinary, earning him more than $15,000. After building several trailers for friends in his backyard, "the neighbors started complaining that I was making too much noise," Wally observed, "so I went out and rented a building." Airstream Trailer Company went into full production in 1932, when fewer than 48 trailer manufacturers were registered for business. Five years later, nearly 400 companies squared off against each other. Today, of those 400, only Airstream remains.

Wally liked to wear Wellington boots and plaid shirts with them. His choice of headgear was a blue beret, which he had spied in France. He wore the beret on his first Central American caravan, and it was quickly adopted by fellow caravanners as a means to identify each other in a crowd. The blue beret became a caravan essential.

While Wally's fashion taste was offbeat casual, his office at Airstream was a "nightmare of disorder," recalled Stella Hall Byam, Wally's second wife.

 

[scottyrocks]

Cheers!

Dan

 

[hatflick1]

Check out these large Basque styles.
http://home.avvanta.com/~rgphoto/2004/basqueberet.htm

 

[Daan]

A cartoon from those days; translates more or less to this:

The Dutch soldier...
Must have discipline, but not at the cost of his personal freedom.
He must be armed, but it shouldn't cost too much.
He must be vigilant, but not too much...

Another interesting picture of long hair under berets; Dutch uniforms, a narrow street in what seems to be Leiden or Amsterdam and berets that are likely to be of the 1st Air Mobile Brigade (through the local Army & Navy Store)...

 

[rlk]

PRT Ultrabasque RED Beret

Really RED Beret from Czechoslovakia likely late 70's-80's. 29 cm. diam.

 

[PADDY]

Some shots from Sud de France.

 

[SpeedRcrX]

Some shots from Sud de France.

Where were you, Paddy ? Marseilles ?

 

[PADDY]

Montpellier and Cap D'Agde where a French friend of mine from way back now lives with her hubbie and family. I got the TGV down from Paris (amazingly efficent and fast!). Strangely enough, regarding the 'beret,' I really didn't see too many people wearing them (the odd elderly gent).

 

[monbla256]

Paddy,
Your Beret reminds me of the size and style my father would wear at times. ( We are Canadienne, from the Basque region of France before coming to Canada 200 years ago ) Here's mine from Daan Kalthoff :

Onward thru the Fog

 

[bolthead]

I got the German military Beret yesterday.....

I got the German military Beret yesterday, I like it, although I don't know how it looks on me. lol

 

[PADDY]

Monbla, looks very similar! I like to wear them fairly tight with almost a military look to them. I shape mine like I would a military one, using the hot/cold water treatment and let it mould to my head. I'm not keen on the floppy flying saucer ones, nor the different colours - I just like them in traditional black. I guess it's like the difference between wearing a stingy Fedora (with the tight short brim) and Fedora's with wider brims.

 

[PADDY]

Bolthead, nice beret. But you need to shape it with hot/cold water, and really mould that baby to your head. Do a search on some photos of modern day British Paras or Marines and that'll give you an idea of 'the look.' Might be worth taking the Tanker's (Panzer) Badge off, just makes it more versatile to wear (rather than paramilitary). Nice one!

 

[bolthead]

Bolthead, nice beret. But you need to shape it with hot/cold water, and really mould that baby to your head. Do a search on some photos of modern day British Paras or Marines and that'll give you an idea of 'the look.' Might be worth taking the Tanker's (Panzer) Badge off, just makes it more versatile to wear (rather than paramilitary). Nice one!

Thanks Paddy, will do.

 

[SpeedRcrX]

Montpellier and Cap D'Agde where a French friend of mine from way back now lives with her hubbie and family. I got the TGV down from Paris (amazingly efficent and fast!). Strangely enough, regarding the 'beret,' I really didn't see too many people wearing them (the odd elderly gent).

I like going to Montpellier it's a nice town, and I used to go to Cap d'Agde when I was a kid during holidays.

Anyway, in France a very few people wear Beret.
It's associated to farmer, stockbreeder or... old people. If I was to wear a true beret (not a modern one) I would be laugh at.
So you won't find a lot of french people wearing Beret, it's a myth...