Berets, Anyone?

[Daan]

I became a boina/beret aficionado after watching "Hana-Bi" 15 years ago (It's a brown Deer beret).

Ah, Hana-Bi... Numerous of my Japanese customers told me about this film and director/lead actor Takeshi Kitano and his DEER beret. Hana-bi , released in the US as "Fireworks", is a 1997 Japanese film.

Kitano plays Nishi, a violent and unpredictable police detective who quits the force after a terrible incident results in his partner, Horibe (Ren Osugi), needing to use a wheelchair. After his retirement he spends much of his time looking after his wife Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto), who has leukemia. The film moves at a deliberate pace and devotes much time to exploring their relationship. Nishi has also borrowed money from the Yakuza to pay for his wife's needs, and is having difficulty repaying them. Meanwhile, Horibe takes up painting and creates works of art that are surrealistic and beautiful.

Great movie, very violent, but lacking all the cliches of the genre. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any trailers or other pictures showing Kitano wearing his beret, but I did find them in numerous other movies, like Achilles and the Tortoise.

The DEER beret is a bit of an institution in Japan, hearing more often about it's own cult status - often in connection with Kitano and other actors.

 

[Daan]

There must be a future for the beret in this day and age, when even Miss Universe contestants wear a beret.

Malika Ménard, who stands 1.76 m tall without the beret, competed as Miss Normandie in her country's national beauty pageant, Miss France 2010, held in Nice, where she would become the eventual winner of the title, gaining the right to represent France in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant.

Her name, Malika, meaning "queen" in Arabic, is very common in North African countries. She was firstly believed to be of North African descent, which was a bit of a worry; however, she has clarified that she is "100% French", and that her parents, who have been to Morocco in the past, named her Malika, because they found it pretty. What a relief...

 

[Daan]

Just a great picture:

No details as to who this red-bereted, pipe smoking gent is, but the longer I look at this picture, the more funny, interesting things come up. Great shot!

Ah, and for those interested, I started a Facebook page a while back, "BERETS"; daily doses of beret-related stuff. Have a look here, if you like.

 

[Michael C]

Any thoughts on how to smooth out a big beret that got bumpy drying out after being worn in the rain?

 

[Daan]

Any thoughts on how to smooth out a big beret that got bumpy drying out after being worn in the rain?

Best thing is to dry slowly and to take care about the shape of the beret. Don't put the beret on a central heating radiator, in front of a woodfire, or a similar heat source. If you are lucky to have a (bath-)room with underfloor heating, that would be ideal. To maintain the shape, place a china plate inside the beret that is close to the size of the beret (a tight fit); this will help to retain it's circular shape.
Since yours has already been dried, I would just get it wet enough to smooth out the bumps and then follow the above steps.
Hope this helps.

 

[howardeye]

Wearing a 12 inch Elosegui Tolosa in the blizzard today!

 

[Effingham]

I recently bought a beret from Daan, and I have to say-- I *love* it.

Thanks, Daan. Great head-toppers, and great service to boot!

 

[alsendk]

Wearing a 12 inch Elosegui Tolosa in the blizzard today!

A beret this size really suit you face. You look good

 

[Godfrey]

Just thought I'd share my beret Pintrest board.

http://pinterest.com/boydg2/men-s-berets/

A bit of a spot for inspiration. A fair amount tagged from Daan's blog The Beret Project.

Wearing a beret takes a bit of courage so it's good to have a spot to collect some inspiration.

 

[Daan]

Just thought I'd share my beret Pintrest board.

http://pinterest.com/boydg2/men-s-berets/

A bit of a spot for inspiration. A fair amount tagged from Daan's blog The Beret Project.

Wearing a beret takes a bit of courage so it's good to have a spot to collect some inspiration.

Excellent! Never heard of 'Pinterest' before, but great medium. Thanks, Godfrey.

 

[Daan]

Daan, how about a picture of your collection, all of them? We promise not to send SWMBO the link!

Okay, it has taken me a while, and three piles of carefully balanced berets on a shelf needed to topple over first, before I got to this stock take of my personal collection, but... it's done.
72, the berets of these three piles, but that's not counting the numerous berets that are always lying in the car, the one or two in the tank-bag of my motorbike, the berets stuffed in various pockets of coats and others left here and there... Close to a 100, I think (and growing!).
Photographic evidence below (and apologies for the quality of the pictures; nighttime in the bedroom doesn't make great conditions for photography, of berets).

Now I just need to work out how to get all these files posted, after The Fedora Lounge tells me there's a maximum of five...

First, the whole lot spread out in small units; some of the berets by Blancq-Olibet; a Txapeldun, 3 Super Lujo's and the Limited Edition by Boinas Elosegui; a good selection of Boinas Espinosa in wool, cotton, with and without headband; cotton Boinas Tolosa Tupida in a nice variety of colours, with and without headband and including a Plato Grande.

 

[Daan]

And here are some more:
Boinas Tolosa Tupida in wool, with and without headband and including some Plato Grandes; two Czech made Radiovka's (in brown and black) and a Czech 'Service Star'; Red beret of the French motorbike club Les Petrolettes Dauphinoises and a souvenir beret from the Isles of St pierre and Miquelon (off the coast of Canada).

 

[Daan]

And tried uploading a few more, but the system seems to have some difficulties with the number of berets... Another time.

How's that for starters, Kreissaege?

 

[alsendk]

Looks good Daan, thanks for posting

 

[Daan]

One steady beret-adept was Desmond Dekker (1941 – 2006).
Dekker was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician.

Together with his backing group, The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with "Israelites".
The video below has nothing to do with berets (apart from the fact that Desmond Dekker undoubtedly wore one while singing this song), but for me, it was a comfort seeing this Maxell add: I was not the only one who couldn't make sense of the (fantastic) song Israelites.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxELSzay2lc[/video]

Other hits include "007 (Shanty Town)" (1967) and "It Miek" (1969). Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Dekker was one of the most popular musicians within Jamaica, and one of the best-known musicians outside it.

 

[Daan]

The War of the Buttons

La Guerre des boutons or War of the Buttons is a 1962 French film directed by Yves Robert. The film was remade in Ireland in 1994 as War of the Buttons, in an Irish setting, and again in France in 2011, with the original title.

[video=youtube;9qG4WgJ84Lc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qG4WgJ84Lc[/video]

In the countryside of France, two groups of boys from the rural villages of Longeverne and Velran are in constant war against each other. Their war is a tradition that passes from father to son and without a motive but the rivalry between the peasants.

During the Algerian War, the Longeverne boys are led by the intelligent William Lebrac, who has been the backer of his family since his father died, while the Velrans are led by the wicked Aztec. The boys are frequently fighting with their wooden swords, throwing rotten fruits or building traps in the woods expecting to remove the buttons from the enemies' clothes.

But Lebrac is coming of age and he has a crush on the girl Lanterne while his teacher Merlin offers the chance for him to have a better study in another village.

[video=youtube;XhAPcfwiNAc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhAPcfwiNAc[/video]

In both French editions, great movies loaded with berets (a beret makes a pretty mean weapon too, with a good sized rock inside)...

 

[howardeye]

Hey Daan, Check this tie out with the beret!!
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?4229-Show-us-your-TIES&p=1600803#post1600803

 

[howardeye]

A beret this size really suit you face. You look good

Thank you. I feel more comfortable in the smaller 10.5 inch. The 12 inch seems very large on me. I think it looks great on other people. I never thought I would ever wear a beret or a newsboy cap before I joined this forum but sometimes change is good!

10.5 inch

 

[Daan]

Hey Daan, Check this tie out with the beret!!
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?4229-Show-us-your-TIES&p=1600803#post1600803

Great tie! The only thing I have that comes anywhere is close is this one:

 

[Daan]

Jean Paul, often called 'Pablo', Tillac, was born in 1880 in Angoulême and died in 1969 in Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

Tillac was a French Basque painter, printmaker, sculptor and illustrator who lived and worked mainly in the Basque Country who took classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he had Gerome, Cormon, Jacquet, Waltner and Roty as teachers.

From 1903 to 1910 he lived in New York and after that in Cuba . He taught drawing in Texas, went to England and returned to Europe in 1911, settling permanently in Cambo-les-Bains in 1919.

Tillac was passionate about the Iberian world, to the point of adopting the name Pablo, but also to the Greek and Latin culture. His erudition is vast, in addition to French and Basque, he spoke Arabic, Greek, English, Hebrew and Castilian.
He worked in a large variety of techniques: oil, watercolor, charcoal, pastel, chalk, graphite, printmaking, sculpting. His subjects are scenes of life, human behaviour, the Basque Country in all its aspects, sites, monuments, markets, and similar. His works have big ethnographic value (and depict many, many berets!).
Moreover, he wrote articles and gave ethnographic lectures. He illustrated many books, including Legends of the Basque Country according to the tradition of Father Jean Barbier (1930).

Much of his work during his lifetime joined the Basque Museum of Bayonne. Another part, after his death, returned to Cambo.