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Berets, Anyone?

Daan

Vendor
Messages
939
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa
Big news from Boneteria Auloronesa, or really, I should say Manufacture de Berets.
Over the next few weeks,
Manufacture de Berets - Boneteria Auloronesa, will move from its present location in Oloron Sainte Marie (hence "Auloronesa", "from Oloron", in the local dialect) to Orthez, a beautiful medieval small town not far away and still in Béarn.
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With this change comes also a formal change of name; "Boneteria Auloronesa" is not accurate anymore and the new label will now state: "Manufacture de Berets - Atelier in Béarn" and display the new logo of a black beret.

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I expected there would be a real rush for the original label berets and yes, I found I was already late to put in a large order for the 'originals' - I will only get a small number of berets that were still available.
Like this local daily reports, the 'original' will soon become collector items and I expect that my present small stock will soon be gone (see text below photo).
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I know of some Fedora Lounge visitors' liking of "originals", and especially the berets made by monsieur Denis Guédon in the early years, that it may be wise to order now if you are keen on one of the original models. Most options are still available (some only in very small quantities of one's and two's).
 
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Daan

Vendor
Messages
939
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa
Why the English call French Frogs...

Although the Chinese and the Aztecs had frogs on the menu long before the French, the origin of the custom of eating frog legs in France, comes from a 12th century ban of meat by the Catholic clergy on certain days, but fish was permitted.
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Monks who lived in the interior of the country and had no access to fresh fish, convinced the clergy that frogs were in the fish family and therefore were not meat.
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Seeing that all was well in the culinary department and the clergy accepted frogs as fish, peasants copied the monks and a new culinary tradition was born in France. This is probably the origin of the name given to the French people ("mangeurs de grenouilles", or "frog eaters").
According to Wiki, Queen Elisabeth I, called her beloved Francis Duke of Anjou, her little frog, because he was French.
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But recently (2014) archaeologists discovered fragments of an 8,000-year-old charred toad leg one mile away from Stonehenge in Wiltshire, hinting that the English were feasting on frogs’ legs 8,000 years before the French.
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The remains which were found alongside fish bones at the site are the earliest evidence of a cooked toad or frog anywhere in the world, scientists say.

And for something completely different: there are only 3 more days to go on the post-Christmas SPECIAL. Buy 2 Czech berets and receive a refund of 50% on your second beret!
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Choose two of the same kind, mix Radiovka's, Classics, Tartan's, peaked berets, Super Luxury's or Mammoths - you choose. And yes, to make it a true SPECIAL, the 50% comes of the more expensive model!


 

GrayEyes

Familiar Face
Messages
79
Location
a northern factory town

Daan

Vendor
Messages
939
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa
Over the weekend, the world lost one of the great beret wearers of our time: Edgar Hilsenrath.

This famous German-Jewish author was rarely in public without a beret.

View attachment 150524

A few obituaries...
German: https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/...rath-so-reden-die-menschen-halt/23817440.html
English: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/01/01/world/europe/ap-eu-germany-obit-hilsenrath.html
French: https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions...ur-de-le-nazi-et-le-barbier_5403957_3382.html
Yes, Edgar Hilsenrath will be dearly missed; not just for his unwavering faith in the black Basque beret, but as a writer of some of the most fantastic unorthodox novels and being the Jewish conscience of modern Germany.
Edgar+Hilsenrath.+Escritor..jpg

Four years back, I published this post on his book The Nazi and the Barber on The Beret Project.
In the Netherlands, it was adapted for theatre (and I'd love to see it again!).
694

And yes, some role model for boineros.
 

gecko

New in Town
Messages
1
Location
Northeast USA
Hello! Thank you for this forum. Helpful during beret selection process.

View media item 2160
Wearing the 10.5 (SAE) inch (26.7 cm) Elósegui txapela (Super Lujo, in chocolate brown) from Ron Greer (new acquisition late December 2018).

(Wearer is 60 cm size).

Sheldon Brown** (bicycle columnist, hat enthusiast) put me onto Ron (many years ago) but I never got around to investigating this headwear.

More's the pity. ;)

Yesterday took the txapela (Super Lujo!) out in a pretty good soaking rain. Still measures exactly the same, after thoroughly drying (headband *may* be a bit tighter than before the rain storm, not sure yet). Teflon doing its job for sure.

The water accumulated on the upper lip of the brim (largest diameter of the beret) and the vast majority of the area above that (nearest the crown) didn't retain much water at all. Patted dry (flat) with clean coffee filters (no lint!)

Quite a bit of water held at the brim. Went through a lot of coffee filters to get it reasonably dry (without crushing). As the underside was essentially just damp, dried with the crown up during the day, and for good measure, dried inverted (interior up) overnight.

IMAGE montage (see below):
Upper left - closest to how I wear the beret, but using closer to two fingers above the left brow (one finger above right brow) 'acorn cap' shape.

Lower right - why I wanted a beret (indoors, winter, thermostat turned down - had to accomodate light headset easily, which it does!) Not that particular shaping, though (self-photography from day 1, before I understood how things work without a mirror for styling reference). Shaping closer to upper left image, during headset wear.

Outdoor use is more in the teardrop shape (as depicted from the back, for example) with beret flight to the right (I am right-handed; left-flight feels strange to arrange).

I also use the cab-driver style (driving cap; peaked beret) outdoors for low sun angle, and kind of like that style for appearing in public (teardrop shape less appealing for that use).

View media item 2161________
Sheldon Brown (1944-2008):

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/org/hats.html
 
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