Berets, Anyone?

[Heinrich]

Very impressive, indeed - but I have to admit that there are certain limits to my enthusiasm for berets...
;-)

 

[Daan]

Very impressive, indeed - but I have to admit that there are certain limits to my enthusiasm for berets...
;-)

Ah, well... Like Michael C said, this guy is a bit obsessed with berets. But to be honest, I haven't worn The Giant into downtown Wellington (yet). Life on the Shetlands may be tough, but Shetland skippers don't have to face the challenge of being stared at by un-understanding crowds on busy streets.

 

[Heinrich]

Ah, well... Like Michael C said, this guy is a bit obsessed with berets. But to be honest, I haven't worn The Giant into downtown Wellington (yet). Life on the Shetlands may be tough, but Shetland skippers don't have to face the challenge of being stared at by un-understanding crowds on busy streets.

Coward!!!
;-)

 

[Kreissaege]

Daan, please wear it in a main street on a very busy saturday and have your wife do a video!

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

That's a sight to be seen indeed... I'd be very curious to know about it, does this particular beret have an history? Do Shetland people give these berets only to skippers?
I'm very very curious!

 

[Oliverbox]

People often feel awkward wearing things because of the associations they make with them. When it comes to berets, those connections range from military men like Lord Montgomery and the Special Forces segment of the U.S. Marines to labor leader Che Guevara and Hollywood film directors. There are many other associations, as well.

Actually, the original beret was a woven affair, in the same familiar shape though quite large and floppy, worn by sea fishermen from the Basque region of Spain and France. If you want a tough and hardy association, these fishermen are it.

U.S. Marines do not have "Special Forces" and they NEVER wear berets.
UK Royal Marines wear Green Berets.

U.S. Green Berets are U.S. Army Special Forces.
U.S. Army Airborne Rangers wear Tan Berets, like the UK Army's Special Air Service
U.S. Army Airborne troops wear Maroon Berets.
Regular U.S. Army wears black berets... an no one likes them.
The USAF has certain units that wear berets, but I wasn't in the USAF.

In my opinion, berets are to be worn when they're issued by the military and only with a uniform.

 

[casechopper]

In my opinion, berets are to be worn when they're issued by the military and only with a uniform.

Militaries were not the original wearers of berets.... I personally wouldn't wear the tightly formed military style beret except under the circumstances you mention but Basque berets are very different from military berets. Militaries also issue watch caps and police issue baseball caps without making those types of headgear police or military only.

 

[Oliverbox]

Militaries were not the original wearers of berets.... I personally wouldn't wear the tightly formed military style beret except under the circumstances you mention but Basque berets are very different from military berets. Militaries also issue watch caps and police issue baseball caps without making those types of headgear police or military only.

I don't know anything about "Basque Berets".
I'm not saying that all headgear that is used by the military should ONLY be used by the military. I'm just saying that about berets. I think "other than military" berets look silly.

 

[Daan]

I don't know anything about "Basque Berets".
I'm not saying that all headgear that is used by the military should ONLY be used by the military. I'm just saying that about berets. I think "other than military" berets look silly.

And no one would deny you your own opinion, but good to remember that the beret is in origin a shepherd's hat from the French Pyrenees and has been worn by civilians for centuries. It was only in 1888 that the beret appeared in the military; the French Regiment of Chasseurs Alpins, or "Alpine Hunters" (backpage through this forum and you'll find loads of information on the subject). It took another 30-odd years before the British army adopted the beret, for their newly found Tank Regiment. From there, it spread like wildfire; many armies of the world realizing the practicallity of berets.
You may find that "other than military berets" look silly, if you feel around on the center of your military beret, you'll feel a little stump; that's the remains of the txortena (the little "wick" or "fuse" on a Basque beret). Like it or not, a military beret is essentially an amputated Basque beret (no exception - it's how they are made).

 

[DougC]

I really like following this thread-I don't wear a beret, but, I can appreciate the beret having seen lots in France and on military bases in both the States and in Europe while my dad was "employed" by the Army. My first beret was given to me by my fifth grade teacher-it was her husband's black beret from the U.S. Army 36 years ago--she also taught me how to say yellow like I was from Alabama (my midwestern mom was horrified!). Then, my ersatz grandmother gave me her son's green beret from his service in the Special Forces and both a English and French parachutist's beret that her son (Henry) traded for during Viet Nam. Knowing that the history of the beret is nice, but seeing all the pictures in this thread has made me think I can pull off the style in South Texas when its cold and nasty out and I'm going to court.

 

[Kreissaege]

In my opinion, berets are to be worn when they're issued by the military and only with a uniform.

But there is the the "beret" and the "basque beret", which makes all the difference in the world.

The former, without the txortena (the fuse on top, shorn off in most militray style berets), with it outwards worn rim (with leather headband) and the special style it is worn from the military (again, with exeptions), is something I associate with the armed forces and would never wear myself.

Now the "basque beret", as christianed from Napoleon III., that is an (nearly exclusive) civilian affair. Looks different with the txortena, is not always the ridicuolous small affair (with no protection from the elements) the militray wears, comes in different sizes, is worn by artists all over the world and through the ages.

Thats why, if anyone asks me why I wear a "Barett", my answer is that I am wearing a "Baskenmütze".

 

[alsendk]

Daan
My german Baskenmütze....."Baskerhue" in danish, arrived fast and safe from the long journey of New Zealand Wellington, and it has been on the top of my head ever since.
I get a lot of good comments about it, and wear it with pride.

Funny it is that I bought it from you cheaper than if ordering it from Germany....don`t quite understand why.
Picture will follow.

Do have a nice weekend fellow beret friends.

 

[Kreissaege]

Slightly OT, but this is the location of the picture showing me wearing a big basque beret in post no. 566. Lots of pictures from my brother showing a beautiful castle.
http://www.outdoor-lights.eu/wildenberg-castle-odenwald-germany/

 

[alsendk]

Beautiful pictures !!!

 

[Kreissaege]

Some data of all my basque berets with short notes on the material. Comments on the models will follow.

Castilla
-Cotton 99gr/29cm, stiffer than the TT

Tolosa Tupida
-Cotton 98gr/30cm, floppier than the Castilla
-Plato Grande Merino 12" 86gr/30cm, very soft, smooth surface, most lightweight wool

SPB
-Mangu (black) 11,8" 97gr/30cm, very soft and floppy
-Colored 12,6" 104gr/32cm, ditto

Boinas Elosegui
-Basica 11.5" 96gr/30cm, soft, coarse
-Exposicion Tupida 13.5" 118gr/31cm, soft, smooth; a bit thicker in the wool than TT Plato Grande
-Super Lujo 12" 126gr/30cm, stiff, smooth; thicker than Exp. T.
-Super Lujo 13.5" 166gr/34cm,
-Super Lujo 14.5" 175gr/37cm,
-Anniversario 13" 126gr/30cm, smoother than the Super Lujo, same stiffness,

Blancq-Olibet
Chasseur Alpin "General" (source: SPB) 210gr/34cm, (size 60, no headband) very floppy; coarser and thicker as BE Super Lujo
Chasseur Alpin (source: Musee du Beret) 143gr/33cm, (ditto) thinner, denser and a wee bit coarser than BE Super Lujo, same stiffness

Baschifico A. Setti
Berretto Basco Popolare Operaio Uomo 55gr/25cm, thin and soft

 

[Daan]

The Beatles

Sometimes, daydreaming a little, I can see Johnny Depp sporting a Basque beret in a blockbuster-to-be, or Lady Gaga, wearing a real Basque beret in a dozen new video clips, and suddenly half the human population wants a beret too...

Lady Gaga, with her "natural hair beret"

There are actually quite a few young people ('young' meaning, say under 40 years of age...) who buy berets - there is hope, but I do fear that we, beret-wearers, are a dying breed, really. Manufacturer Beatex-Laulhere (under new ownership) is planning a campaign to re-popularize the French beret, and in Spain there are a number of societies (activists!) who fight for the come-back of the beret, or boina. Like the Amigos de la Boina, or have a look at this article here (in Spanish, but you'll get the point with Google Translate).

Hope, never give up hope.
Almost 50 years ago, there were some superb role-models sporting berets: The Beatles!

I wonder if that caused a surge in beret sales at the time.
John Lennons Basque beret did sell, not long ago, for an un-disclosed (but surely sizeable) sum at an auction:

 

[Daan]

 

[alsendk]

[/IMG]

my all time favorite bassplayer Jaco Pastorius, wearing a beret

 

[Daan]

Comics

No shortage of berets in comics. And I don't mean war comics, or Green Beret comics - there are many Basque berets in European comics from a number of different countries. What's more, the Basque beret does well with it's authors too.
The oldest I could find were the Quick & Flupke series, written by Hergé, the Belgian autor of Tintin.

Tintin himself is never seen with a beret, but many men in the background of the pictures wear one. And of course, professor Tournesol, before he changed from beret to bowler hat.

Marten Toonder is the creater of Olivier B. Bumble (or "Bommel", in Dutch). Sir Olivier Berendinus Bommel is a gentleman of good standing, for whom money is no object and Lord of Castle Bommelstein. Sir Bumble is very class-conscious, but not unlikable. He drives a modest car, de "Oude Schicht" (the Old Flash), en dresses very modest in no more than a checkered coat. Sir Olivier is not one to wear a beret himself, but another character in the Bumble comics is painter Terpen Tijn (Turpentine); a bohemian who lives for art and has no concern to bourgeois pettiness. He is sloppy dressed and wears a black beret, of course. He applies his paint with great energy onto the canvas, spreading "strong vibrations". It is said that Toonder based Terpen Tijn on Dutch painter Karel Appel.
Great books, full of hidden, double layers which makes them excellent reading material for my kids and for adults alike.

Quite different are the comic books (or graphic novels) by the Italian author Vittorio Giardino.

In two series, "A Jew in Communist Prague" and "No Pasarán", he shows us many Basque berets. Jonas is a young Jew in 1950's Prague whose father is arrested by the communist police. He and his mother have to cope with the discrimination and oppression of Stalin's regime. The book won the Angoulème Alfred prize for best foreign work in 1995 as well as an Harvey at San Diego in 1999.

Hugo Pratt, another Italian, is my favourite graphic novel author. Pratt is the creator of Corto Maltese. A sea captain and a classical romantic hero but not a sentimental Byronic wretch. Born from a sailor father from Cornwall and an Gibraltarian gypsy mother. As a rebel, he mostly sides with the oppressed, with Indians, Irish revolutionaries against the British, Russians fighting against the Czarist system. Pratt often combines fact with fiction, and sets the actions of his characters against some true historical crisis. Corto wears nothing but his captain's cap, but again, many around him wear (Basque) berets.

I am running out of "picture space" for this post - to be continued...

 

[Daan]

Comics II

Part two of (Basque) berets in the graphic novel and comics.

A comic, or cartoon really, of a completely different order is Beretman, an interenet publication only.

On a more serious level, there are the stories by Japanese author Osamu Tezuka, famous for wearing a Basque beret (always!) himself. Tezuka first started to work in the comics industry at the age of seventeen, drawing a comic strip for a newspaper; a year later he published his first full-length manga book,Shintakarajima, "New Treasure Island", based on a story by Shichima Sakai.Tezuka’s works had tremendous impact on Japanese culture, literature and film, especially during the post-war period.

Tezuka was even honoured with postage stamps after his death (1989) with his likeness, including beret.

And obviously, there must be Spanish comics featuring the boina. Mort & Phil (Spanish: Mortadelo y Filemón) is one of the most popular Spanish comics series, published in more than a dozen countries. It appeared for the first time in 1958 in the children's comic-book Pulgarcito drawn by Francisco Ibáñez. The series features Mort (Spanish: Mortadelo), the tall, bald master of disguise named after Mortadella, and his bossy partner, the shorter, pudgier Phil (Spanish: Filemón) Pi. The series is especially popular in Germany as Clever & Smart. After the 1980s, the albums have featured current news, like computer sabotage, the AVE, Islamic terrorism, Spanish and European politics, and specials for the Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup.