Berets, Anyone?

[Fern]

View attachment 474261
Daily boina. Elosegui in khaki.

Like a #rock — looking good!

 

[Fern]

Fine boina embellishments as seen in the window shops of NY.

 

[Mm25]

The heather green color and drape of this Boneteria Aoteatoa make it one of my absolute favorites. Enjoying a Nording compass pipe after cleaning up Christmas decorations.

 

[Fern]

#Dailyboina #NYC Elosegui 150 Años

 

[Fern]

#Dailyboina #NYC Elosegui 150 Años

 

[Mm25]

Found on the web. Stated it was from Argentina.

 

[Daan]

Found on the web. Stated it was from Argentina.
View attachment 478347

The photo is Spanish, titled 'Montejurra' (Navarra), by Spanish photographer Francisco Ontañón (1958 or 1959).
Ontañón took many photos of boineros, giving a beautiful impression of Spanish life in the 1950's and 60's.

'O livro da caça menor', 1962-1963

And below, my Daily Boina: Le Béret Français 'Printemps' in blue.

Happy New Year, all you boineros and boineras!
Interesting new stock coming soon at South Pacific Berets...

 

[Daan]

Prisoner 155​

One of the best graphic novels I have read is Prisoner 155 (yes, highly recommended!).
Prisoner 155: Simón Radowitzky is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel that tells the story of Simón Radowitzky (1891-1956), a gentle soul caught up in a cruel world.

Author/illustrator Agustín Comotto is an Argentinian living in Spain where the book was first published in 2016.
Radowitzky appears in a few books (recently The Anarchist Expropriators and Rebellion in Patagonia--both from AK Press), but this is the first English-language book devoted solely to him.

His tumultuous life begins with his immigration from Ukraine to Argentina, followed by his assassination of Colonel Falcón (who presided over the slaughter of 100 workers) in 1909.

Banished to a penal colony, he escaped, was recaptured and tortured, serving a total of twenty years.
Upon release he joined the Spanish Revolution, after which he decamped for Mexico, where he died in 1956 while employed at a toy factory.

 

[Fern]

Prisoner 155​

One of the best graphic novels I have read is Prisoner 155 (yes, highly recommended!).
Prisoner 155: Simón Radowitzky is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel that tells the story of Simón Radowitzky (1891-1956), a gentle soul caught up in a cruel world.
View attachment 479203
Author/illustrator Agustín Comotto is an Argentinian living in Spain where the book was first published in 2016.
Radowitzky appears in a few books (recently The Anarchist Expropriators and Rebellion in Patagonia--both from AK Press), but this is the first English-language book devoted solely to him.
View attachment 479204 View attachment 479205
His tumultuous life begins with his immigration from Ukraine to Argentina, followed by his assassination of Colonel Falcón (who presided over the slaughter of 100 workers) in 1909.
View attachment 479206 View attachment 479207
Banished to a penal colony, he escaped, was recaptured and tortured, serving a total of twenty years.
Upon release he joined the Spanish Revolution, after which he decamped for Mexico, where he died in 1956 while employed at a toy factory.
View attachment 479208 View attachment 479209

Sad story.

 

[Fern]

#dailyboina - La Encartada “Balmesada” 12”, negra. 1995

 

[Daan]

Accompanying the new weekly SPECIAL of Kopka Rhineland Berets (in limited numbers @ $31.95 only!), let me put some more focus on German boineros and boineras.

Probably one of the best known, is novelist and Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll, Böll's early novels dealt with the despair of soldiers' lives, the oppressive cruelties he witnessed in his youth and in military service. Böll's major later works include The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1974), which attacked yellow journalism.

Jean Arp / Hans Arp (1886 – 1966) was a German-French, or Alsatian, sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist in other media such as torn and pasted paper. When Arp spoke in German he referred to himself as "Hans", and when he spoke in French he referred to himself as "Jean". Arp was a founding member of the Dada movement in Zürich in 1916.

Bernhard Heiliger (1915 - 1995, Berlin) was a German artist. He was considered "West Germany's foremost sculptor", and his large public artworks are a prominent presence in many German cities, especially Berlin.

Renate Rȍssing-Winkler (1929 - 2005) was a German documentary and landscape photographer.

Helmut Newton (born Helmut Neustädter, 1920 –2004) was a German (later Australian) photographer. He was a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications."

Günter Wilhelm Grass (born 16 October 1927) is a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is widely regarded as Germany's most famous living writer.

 

[Daan]

Taking stock at South Pacific Berets among an everlasting shortage of space means a good reason for a clearance sale!

Some berets are taken out of production, sometimes a manufacturer ceases to exist, other times a line of custom made models sells out... There may be tragedy behind it, but for the customer it can be good news - berets with a massive reduction in price.

The boinas Espinosa and Tolosa Tupida have been a staple of South Pacific Berets from the very beginning, 15 years ago. Until the beginning of covid, I have always had a steady supply of these berets, but after 3 years trying [unsuccessfully] to restock, I reluctantly have to give up on this range of berets.
The last boinas with headband can be found here; the last one-size models here.

UČA berets is one of Europe’s oldest beret manufacturers, since its inception in Vršac in 1924.
UČA produces berets for many of the European armies, as well as various types of Basque berets. Even at the regular retail price, these berets are great value for money – now on Clearance Sale at a large discount!

The UČA military berets can be found here; all Basque models here.
The Hispano Basque is an old French beret label that was reinstated exclusively for South Pacific Berets; berets made specifically to our specifications of weight, diameter, colour.

From the onset, these berets were priced very competitively, offering a large range of colours and diameters. The standard series of Hispano Basque berets can be found here; the Bleu de France range here and the (yellow & purple) Bold and Beautiful range here.
Many more berets have been reduced in price; such as the Portuguese Boinas Burel, Laulhère’s berets in Harris Tweed...

...the recycled coffee-bag Coffee2Go berets and Italian Grande Piattos.

 

[Fern]

Hey guys, as I’m organizing my collection I wanted to ask what you all do when longer term storing the boinas. Do you keep them in their baggies or leave them open air?

 

[Mm25]

Hey guys, as I’m organizing my collection I wanted to ask what you all do when longer term storing the boinas. Do you keep them in their baggies or leave them open air?
View attachment 482378

I keep mine in dresser drawer. No plastic, and with a cedar wood block.

 

[Babbo Philipe]

I keep mine in dresser drawer. No plastic, and with a cedar wood block.

Me too with Downey softeners strips

 

[Fern]

Hey guys, as I’m organizing my collection I wanted to ask what you all do when longer term storing the boinas. Do you keep them in their baggies or leave them open air?
View attachment 482378

Thanks for the responses so far!

@Mm25 @Babbo Philipe, thx!

 

[Fern]

Had a little birthday this month.

Got myself some new Spanish basque txapelas— this time I wanted to go smaller in vuelo, so these are my first 11” pulgadas, all La Encartada.

 

[Daan]

Hey guys, as I’m organizing my collection I wanted to ask what you all do when longer term storing the boinas. Do you keep them in their baggies or leave them open air?
View attachment 482378

My "personal berets" are simply stored on a shelf, but with pieces of Canadian cedar wood in between them. This is a great natural way to prevent moth damage.
Some very old berets, pre WWII, I store in plastic vacuum bags, simply to preserve them long term.
Otherwise, I don't store my berets in plastic (unless sucked vacuum, plastic bags can cause your beret to smell over time and if there is any moisture in the firbres, which is likely, it can cause mold and even worse smell).
My brother Frans has a more sophisticated way of storing his berets, neatly per brand in plastic hat boxes that are moth proof but do circulate air:

Alas, with over 200 berets in my collection, I have to simplify...

 

[Fern]

My "personal berets" are simply stored on a shelf, but with pieces of Canadian cedar wood in between them. This is a great natural way to prevent moth damage.
Some very old berets, pre WWII, I store in plastic vacuum bags, simply to preserve them long term.
Otherwise, I don't store my berets in plastic (unless sucked vacuum, plastic bags can cause your beret to smell over time and if there is any moisture in the firbres, which is likely, it can cause mold and even worse smell).
My brother Frans has a more sophisticated way of storing his berets, neatly per brand in plastic hat boxes that are moth proof but do circulate air:
View attachment 482731 View attachment 482732
Alas, with over 200 berets in my collection, I have to simplify...

How cool, @Daan — I have two hat boxes like those but used for other hats. Maybe I should get more to store the berets. I like the labeling system taped to the outside of the boxes!

 

[ADK]

I know that I have not participated in the discussion as much as I should, but I really appreciate all of the posts and photos! I just caught up on the last 9 pages (!) while making the rounds and seeing what new berets were out there in the wild for purchase! The new MdB Luxe versions look amazing and I’m pondering which color I would like best before placing an order soon!

In the meantime, I‘ve been exploring how to shape a beret.

I have an older MdB that I love that has taken on the shape that I like over time and it’s beautiful.

I have this Goat in a Tree beret that I’ve had for a year or so and it’s never really taken on a shape and held it. Certainly not a problem… just a difference in the beret, I guess. So, this morning, while loading the wood stove and spending the day home with my kids, I went ahead and submerged the beret… gently wrung it out… shaped it on my head (in the backroad-French-farmer-sort of style that I like by pulling out a peak on the front and pressing down the sides).

To prevent me from needing to wear it all day while it dries, I searched around my house for a good subject for a mold and found the perfect idea! A smooth top hard hat in with my work gear.

It’s now resting a comfortable distance away from the wood stove while it takes on it‘s shape. I’ll give it a few checks during the day and give it a test fit. So far, so good. Submerging it seems to have really helped in stretching the beret - something that never seems to work super easily with a dry beret. I much prefer the method of MdB’s with the ribbon used to fit the beret. I have a large head, I suppose! Usually a 59 or 60 depending on the brand of hat.

For now, it’s beret drying time and time to research those MdB Luxe!

ADK