The Beret Project

Roman Brandstaetter

2012-02-01T07:15:00.003+13:00

Roman Brandstaetter (1906–1987), poet, playwright, prose writer, and translator. Roman Brandstaetter studied philosophy and Polish literature in Kraków, earning a doctorate for a thesis on Adam Mickiewicz in 1932. Two years of research in Paris (1929–1931) resulted in the publication of Legion żydowski Adama Mickiewicza (Adam Mickiewicz’s Jewish Legion; 1932). Initially, Brandstaetter actively participated in Polish literary life, publishing, among other things, literary guidelines for the generation of Polish poets entering the literary scene during the interwar period. In the early 1930s, however, he became more closely associated with Jewish national circles, joining the editorial board of Opinia, a Zionist weekly where he published his manifesto on Polish Jewish poetry.

In the early days of World War II, Brandstaetter fled Vilna, eventually making his way to Jerusalem. In 1946, he left Palestine for Rome, where he served as cultural attaché at the Polish embassy and was baptized. He returned to Poland in 1948. From the late 1950s he wrote extensively on religious subjects for the Polish Catholic press, including the newspaper Tygodnik powszechny, consolidating his reputation as one of Poland’s leading religious writers.

Brandstaetter’s biography reflects the dramatic experiences and radical ideological choices facing twentieth-century Jewish intelligentsia. His life was shaped by Zionism and, later, Catholicism, while his literary output synthesized Jewish, Polish, Christian, and Greek and Roman traditions.

His grandfather, the writer Mordekhai Brandstetter (1844–1928), often appears in Roman’s work offering insights into values underlying Jewish life.

Kangol Monty

2012-01-31T09:51:00.000+13:00

Finally available through South Pacific Berets: the Kangol Monty Berets!

A range of sizes, a range of colours.

A true classic in berets - wear a piece of history!

In BLACK, STORM or RED @ $39.50. Order here!

The German series #20 - Bildhauers (Sculptors)

2012-01-31T07:15:00.001+13:00

As seen many times before on The Beret Project, the beret is the hat of choice of many sculptors and especially so for German sculptors!

Pictured below some random pictures of German sculptors:

Reinhold Schröder

Roger Delleré from Bitburg

Heinrich Thein

Wilhelm Hable

Estepan Urkiaga Basaraz

2012-01-30T07:15:00.000+13:00

Estepan Urkiaga Basaraz aka Estepan UrkiagaBasaraz, but better known by his pseudonym Lauaxeta (1905 - 1937) was a Spanish Basque poet and journalist. Heparticipated in the founding of the Royal Academy ofthe Basque Language . During the Civil War he was part of the Basque administration butwas captured and executed by Franco's troops.

Hisearly religious vocation led him to become a novitiate, but he left the churchto devote himself to journalism and literature . He joined the BasqueNationalist Party ,where he took charge of several publications in Euskera.

Atthe outbreak of the Civil War and the adoption of the Statute ofAutonomy of the Basque Country, he worked with the Basque Government, dealing with propaganda and as Corps Commander,serving in Bilbao,where he helped hiding some priests fleeing the Republican territory. He was captured by Franco's troops, court-martialed and sentenced to death; shot in the cemetery of Santa Isabel de Vitoria two later, despite the efforts of theBasque Government to exchange him for a Nationalist prisoner.

1967

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Collection of Vintage Basque Posters

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Jack London

2012-01-27T07:15:00.005+13:00

Seaman J.L. with home-made beret

John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, 1876 – 1916) was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. He is best remembered as the author of Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf.
London was a passionate advocate of unionization, socialism, and the rights of workers and wrote several powerful works dealing with these topics such as his dystopian novel, The Iron Heel and his non-fiction exposé, The People of the Abyss.

The India Series #8 - 63 Years of Independence

2012-01-26T07:15:00.005+13:00

Today, 63 years ago, India became independent from Great Britain and preparations for the "Day of the Republic" are in full swing. Good for some interesting beret-pictures:

Eiffel Tower and Berets

2012-01-25T07:15:00.001+13:00

The béret, baguette, a bottle of red wine, cigarette hanging from the lips... No shortage of cliches for Frenchmen, or anything French.

The Eiffel Tower is another good one, best in combination with a beret, of course.

I have to admit feeling very uncomfortable wearing my beret while in Paris last year, with the only other berets hanging from souvenir stalls and worn by American and Asian tourists.

It's all a matter of ego, I know...

But from the 1000's of pictures available, I like the tower/beret picture below best.

The Dutch Series #9 - Cees Kortlang

2012-01-24T07:15:00.000+13:00

Cees Kortlang (1926 - 2008) was a Dutch painter and graphic artist.

After secondary school (HBS), he went to the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague from 1946-1952, where he majored in drawing. He took his exams but failed them. After his period in The Hague, Theo Swagemakers helped Cees Kortlang and his then wife move into a studio on Zomerdijkstraat in the Rivierenbuurt area of Amsterdam. Other residents on Zomerdijkstraat included writers and artists Jan Wolkers, Piet Esser, Jaap Hillenius, Mies Hillenius, Theo Swagemakers and Jaap Wagemaker.

But he also spent a lot of time abroad. From the middle of the 1960s, he spent several weeks a year in the Graphic studio Druckwerkstatt in Wolfsburg Castle in Germany, founded by Gustav Kurt Beck in 1962. He also received funding from the French government to work for a while in Stanley William Hayter’s ‘Atelier 17’ in Paris in 1965. In the summers of 1976 and 1977, he worked in the Printshop in St. Michaels, Newfoundland. He also travelled to Prague, Iceland, Greenland and Ireland. He was inspired by the scenery he encountered in these countries, which is reflected in his work.

In 1992, after the death of his mother and his divorce from his wife, Kortlang returned to live in his parental home in Ermelo. By this time, his daughter had grown up. During a holiday in Venezuela in May 1997, Karin Kortlang and her boyfriend went missing.

This event marked an all-time low in the life of Cees Kortlang. In 1997 he created various etches which he dedicated to Karin and through which he tried to achieve closure on the event. He later wrote about his daughter in the book Balans (“Balance”), an autobiographical story about his life.

The Karin Kortlang Foundation is named after his daughter. On 5 April 2008, Cees Kortlang died in Harderwijk following a stroke.

The Dreamers, by Bernardo Bertolucci

2012-01-23T07:15:00.000+13:00

The Dreamers is a 2003 French/British/Italian drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The screenplay is by Gilbert Adair, based on his own novel The Holy Innocents.

The Dreamers tells the story of an American university student in Paris who, after meeting a peculiar brother and sister who are fellow film enthusiasts, becomes entangled in an erotic conflict. It is set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris student riots. The film makes several references to various movies of classical and New Wave cinema, incorporating clips from films that are often imitated by the actors in particular scenes.

The Dreamers was controversial in the United States for its depiction of nudity and sexual content, which attracted an NC-17 rating.

Where are the Tolosa Tupidas?

2012-01-22T22:11:00.001+13:00

I have had a few questions from readers about the boinas Tolosa Tupida with headband, as announced on the blog earlier this week. "Where are they? What do they cost?" and "How can I order one?"

My apologies, I thought I had all the new stock from Argentina listed on the web site, but indeed, a few models were missing. Please have a look here (and here for the cotton models) and if any questions: please ask - always happy to help!

Red Beret by Rob van Hooff

2012-01-22T07:15:00.002+13:00

Italian Lumberjack by Tiziano Zenzolo

2012-01-21T07:15:00.000+13:00

I found this photograph while searching for Italian beret pictures. It's title is; The Basque Lumberjack, by Tiziano Zenzolo. Unfortunately, I could not find any further information or contact details to ask for permission posting this picture here (Tiziano, please drop me a line if you ever read this!), but couldn't resist.
What a great photograph!

More News from South Pacific Berets!

2012-01-20T10:11:00.001+13:00

The South Pacific Berets site is all updated now!

The newly added Espinosas Silver Label in 24cm diameter (black and red) have been added and more colours in the 26 and 28cm range.

The Boina Super Espinosa is the flagship in this range, with lining and headband.

Then there is a much larger choice in the Tolosa Tupida's in wool; colour wise and with/without headband.

More TT's in cotton, both in the 31cm range and as Plato Grandes.

Pietro Nenni

2012-01-20T07:15:00.001+13:00

Pietro Sandro Nenni (1891 – 1980) was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951. He was a central figure of the Italian left from the 1920s to the 1960s.
After his peasant parents died, he was placed in an orphanage by an aristocratic family. Every Sunday Nenni recited his catechism before the countess and if he did well received a silver coin. "Generous but humiliating", he recalled.

While the socialist Mussolini became a fascist, the republican Nenni joined the Socialist Party in 1921, at the moment of its split with the wing that would form the Communist Party (PCI). In 1925 he was arrested for publishing a booklet on the Fascists' murder of Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti.

Pietro Nenni and Randolfo Pacciardi in Madrid in September 1936

Nenni went on to fight with the International Brigades in Spain. He was the cofounder and political commissar of the Garibaldi Brigade. After the defeat of the Spanish Republic and the victory of Franco he returned to France. In 1943 he was arrested by the Germans and then imprisoned in Italy on the island of Ponza.

After being liberated in August 1943, he returned to Rome to lead the Italian Socialist Party which had been reunified as the Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity. After the surrender of Italy with the Allied armed forces on September 8, 1943, he was one of the political officials of the National Liberation Committee - the underground political entity of Italian Partisans during the German occupation.

In 1956 Nenni broke with the PCI after the Soviet invasion of Hungary. He returned the Stalin Prize money ($25,000). Subsequently, he slowly led his party into supporting membership of the NATO and closer European integration, and sought cooperation with the leading party, the Christian Democrats.

He died in Rome on January 1, 1980. A daughter, Vittoria "Viva" Daubeuf, died in Auschwitz. She is memorialized in the writings of Charlotte Delbo.

Rodin's Beret by Erik Dietman

2012-01-19T07:15:00.000+13:00

An interesting view on the beret:

Erik Dietman was born in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1937. He studied at the academy of fine arts in Malmö but lived in France for most of his life; he died in Paris in 2002.

He was a member of the Fluxus movement, that asserted the intrinsic artistic quality of even the most common gesture, and claimed artistic creation should not be confined to the field of aesthetics, but be part of the flow of daily life, on behalf of an absolute conception of art.

Milice Française

2012-01-18T07:15:00.001+13:00

Despite the well molded self image of the French during WWII, the truth, to a certain extend, is pretty ugly.

The beret may have been a symbol for La Résistance française, it was also part of the uniform of the Milice française, the collaborators with Nazi Germany under the Vichy Government.

Milice troops, known as miliciens, wore a blue uniform coat, a brown shirt and a wide blue beret. (During active paramilitary-style operations, a pre-war French Army helmet was used.) Its newspaper was Combats. (Not to be confused with the underground Resistance newspaper, Combat.) It employed both full-timers and part-timers, as well as a youth wing. The Milice's armed forces were officially known as the Franc-Gardes.

Confined initially to the former zone libre of France under the control of the Vichy regime (which moderated its actions and forbade some of its more radical aspirations), the radicalized Milice in January 1944 moved into what had been the zone occupée of France, including Paris.

Since the Second World War, the term milice has acquired a derogatory meaning in French.

Paul Pulati

2012-01-17T07:15:00.001+13:00

California-born Paul J. Pulati is a musician, singer/songwriter and visual artist living in London since 2005.

As a visual artist, Paul’s paintings, drawings and sculptures are imaginative narratives, drawn from life, using what one art critic described as “a glowing spectrum of erotic colour.” Using simplification and stylisation, Paul’s work is representational, though not realistic.

Ralph Steadman

2012-01-16T07:15:00.000+13:00

Ralph Steadman (1936) started out as a cartoonist and over time has become known as an artist, writer, sculptor, illustrator, satirical cartoonist and designer of labels for vintage wines. Ralph Steadman was born in 1936 in Wallasey, Cheshire. He attended East Ham Technical College and the London College of Printing and Graphic Arts during the 1960s, doing freelance work for Punch, Private Eye, the Daily Telegraph, The New Statesman, the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Steadman is known for his social and political caricatures and cartoons and also for his illustrations in picture books.

2012-01-15T07:15:00.000+13:00

Louis Sohn

2012-01-14T07:15:00.000+13:00

Louis B. Sohn (1914 – 2006) was born in Lemberg, in what was then Austria-Hungary, later Poland and now Ukraine. He earned his first law degree at John Casimir University in Lwow in 1939, escaping to the United States two weeks before the Nazi invasion of Poland. He was a longtime scholar of international law and advocate of international institutions.

He participated in the San Francisco Conference that established the United Nations, working on the statute of the International Court of Justice.

In 1958, Professor Sohn was a co-author, with Grenville Clark, of World Peace Through World Law (Harvard University Press), which examined proposals to transform the United Nations into a world government. The book called for complete disarmament and the use of world judicial tribunals to solve international disputes. The plan also proposed a permanent world police force to enforce a prohibition on the use of force by states.

Upon Sohn's death in 2006, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan issued a statement noting Sohn's reputation as "a voice of reason and source of wisdom," and celebrating his "firm belief in the importance of the United Nations and of the rule of law in settling international disputes."

Brassaï

2012-01-13T07:15:00.002+13:00

Brassaï (pseudonym of Gyula Halász) (1899 – 1984) was a Hungarian photographer, sculptor, and filmmaker who rose to international fame in France in the 20th century. He was one of the numerous Hungarian artists who flourished in Paris beginning between the World Wars. In the early 21st century, the discovery of more than 200 letters and hundreds of drawings and other items from the period 1940-1984 has provided scholars with material for understanding his later life and career.

Gyula Halász was born in Brassó, Transsylvania, Kingdom of Hungary (since 1920 Braşov, Romania), to an Armenian mother and a Hungarian father. He grew up speaking Hungarian. When he was three, his family lived in Paris for a year, while his father, a professor of French literature, taught at the Sorbonne.

As a young man, Gyula Halász studied painting and sculpture at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (Magyar Képzomuvészeti Egyetem) in Budapest. He joined a cavalry regiment of the Austro-Hungarian army, where he served until the end of the First World War.

In 1948 Brassai married Gilberte Boyer, a French woman. She worked with him in supporting his photography. In 1949 he became a naturalized French citizen after years of being stateless.

In 1956, Brassai directed a film Tant qu'il y aura des bêtes (As long as there will be animals), shot at the Paris Vincennes Zoo. It won the "Most Original Film" award that year at the Cannes Film Festival. In the 1970s, he received French national awards for his artistic contributions and especially his photography.

Brassaï wrote 17 books and numerous articles, including the 1948 novel Histoire de Marie, published with an introduction by Henry Miller. Conversations with Picasso was translated into 12 languages. His Letters to My Parents (1980), from his 20-year correspondence with his parents during his younger years in Paris, was published in Bucharest with the collaboration of his father, younger brother Kálmán, and Andre Horváth. Both books were translated into English and published in the late 1990s by the University of Chicago Press (see below).

Rickie Lee Jones' album Pirates - a Brassaï photograph

After 1961, when he stopped taking photographs, Brassaï concentrated on sculpting in stone and bronze. Several tapestries were made from his designs based on his photographs of graffiti.

Back!

2012-01-12T07:15:00.001+13:00

Yes, back in Wellington.Washed away at the East Cape by the tail of a tropical cyclone, but this also ensured a most relaxing holiday; playing games, reading books, no internet or cell phone cover and in between showers snorkeling and kayaking around the rocks of Lottin Point.

And waiting at home the new stock from Argentina! A good restocking of familiar berets and also many new wares, like the boina Super Espinosa - an Espinosa of superior quality, with satin lining, headband and large embroidered label in 28cm diameter.

Also, more colours in the cotton boina Tolosa Tupida range and more Tolosa Tupida berets with headband: wool berets in black and maroon, cotton berets in sun-washed blue, red and black; Plato Grandes in cotton in sizes 59, 60 and 61.

Last, more choice in the smaller diameter berets: boina Espinosas in 24cm in black and red and more colours in the cotton Espinosa range.

What I wore during these three weeks absence? Two berets: a Basco Roma when kayaking and otherwise my Basco Francia - ideal and most comfortable berets in humid, warm weather.

Holidays 18

2012-01-11T07:15:00.004+13:00

Holidays 17

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Holidays 16

2012-01-09T07:15:00.003+13:00

Holidays 15

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Holidays 14

2012-01-07T07:15:00.002+13:00

Holidays 13

2012-01-06T07:15:00.004+13:00

Holidays 12

2012-01-05T07:15:00.001+13:00

Holidays 11

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Holidays 10

2012-01-03T07:15:00.004+13:00

Holidays 9

2012-01-02T07:15:00.002+13:00

Holidays 8

2012-01-01T07:15:00.001+13:00

Holidays 7

2011-12-31T07:15:00.002+13:00

Holidays 6

2011-12-30T07:15:00.001+13:00

Holidays 5

2011-12-29T07:15:00.002+13:00

Holidays 4

2011-12-28T07:15:00.001+13:00

Holidays 3

2011-12-27T07:15:00.000+13:00

Holidays 2

2011-12-26T07:15:00.001+13:00

Holidays 1

2011-12-25T07:15:00.000+13:00

Holidays

2011-12-24T07:15:00.001+13:00

That's right: Holidays! I'm off, from 24 December through somewhere mid-January.

That means only a daily picture on The Beret Project instead of a "real post" and also www.SouthPacificBerets.com and www.SouthPacificCowboy.com will be closed for business.
Saying that, I'll try to answer emails whenever possible and all orders will be shipped out first thing on the 9th of January.

After three years of daily blogging on berets, I look forward to a bit of a break (Waiheke Island for Xmas, Hicks Bay for the first week of the new year).

Time to think up new posts, collect material, photographs and anecdotes related to the beret, while working on my tan, growing my beard and showing off exotic berets. Back on 9 January.

All readers and customers: enjoy the holidays, have a wonderful New Year and be faithful to the beret!

Last Post for 2011: The Bangditos - Street Theater

2011-12-23T07:15:00.001+13:00

In a loud and smoking blowup, a tiny, French-made car called the "Ente" breaks down.

When two French tourists lose their way in the street and, with charming enthusiasm, involve one and all in their precarious distress, none of the amused onlookers can imagine that this daft duo could ever find their way back to Paris.

With grandiose fervor, situations become more complicated, streets more labyrinthine, and passers-by more hectic. But their "deux minutes" calms down any situation even when it takes 45 minutes.

1 2CV, 2 actors and up to 500 spectators. Anytime and anywhere - worldwide!

The German Series #19 - Henry lalane

2011-12-22T07:15:00.000+13:00

Following yesterday's post, today a story from the other side. HenryLalane came from the small village of Guinarthe-Parenties, halfway between Pauand Bayonne, in the south of France.

After the German occupation of France in 1940, Lalane was made aforced labourer, a farmhand at the Maurer's farm in Berschweiler. Father WilliMaurer had died, so widow Maurer and her 5 and 6 year old sons could well dowith the help. Lalane was treated as a member of the family, only having toreturn to the parish hall at night to sleep with fellow forced labourers. Hewas familiar with the work on the farm; feeding the animals, ploughing thefields, get firewood from the forest and harvesting the crops.

March 1945 his long-term captivity ended and Henry returned home,to France.All the Maurer family had to remember him by was a photograpph, Basque beret onhis head, cigarette hanging from his mouth and the two boys at his hands.

Until 2010...

Read the full story here (in German).

The German Series #18 - Hermann Eller

2011-12-21T07:15:00.000+13:00

Hermann Eller (1925 - 2009)was a portrait and lanscape painter from Deggendorf, Germany. Bornas Hermann Rott, he was adopted by the Eller family in Natterberg.

Self portrait with Brown Beret

Hermann Eller started at ayoung age, winning numerous art competitions, until the war stopped himperfecting his skills. Drafted into the navy in 1943, he was taklen prisonerthe next year and spent the remainder of the war as a forced labourer in aFrench mine. It was only in 1947 that Eller returned from captivity and back toart.

His first charcoal drawingwas called Baskenmützemit Drillichjoppe,and the brown beret became his trademark since then.

The German Series #17 - TOX Girls

2011-12-20T07:15:00.000+13:00

It's like the famous calendar of Pirelli tires; I never quite understand what young, sexy, nude girls have to do with the tires of a car.

German company TOX specializes in all sorts of fixings, heavy-duty anchors and hook screws combined with fixings, according to it's catalogue.

Not the sort of business you'd instantly associate with scarcely dressed young women, and even more, scarcely dressed women with beret! Beats me...

Running of the Bulls, no, Nudes

2011-12-19T07:15:00.000+13:00

Pamplona is the historical capital city of Navarre in Spain,the former Kingdom of Navarra.

The city is famous worldwidefor the San Fermín Festival. from 6 - 14 July, in which the running of the bulls is the mainattraction.

This festival was first brought to widespread attention by ErnestHemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises.Another time, other ethics...

Ernest Hemingway with a bull (with beret), 1927

While living in Europe, I hardly new of this antiquated event, but in the NZ daily papers photo's get on the front page year after year - 1000's of Kiwi's, Aussies's and Americans travel to Spain for the event every year - not to protest, but to participate, preferably donning a red beret.

These days there is noexcuse for cruelty to animals for the amusement of people; tourists, most ofthem. PETA initiated the Running of theNudes, as an alternative that in my humble opinion, wins on all fronts.

USSR

2011-12-18T07:15:00.000+13:00

Mikhail Vartanov (2)

2011-12-17T07:15:00.001+13:00

I Will Wear Your Beret Papa is a photographic requiem by Martiros Vartanov, an award-winning photographer and filmmaker, for his beloved father, Mikhail Vartanov, the member of the 2007 jury of Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival of Navarra, who passed away on New Year’s Eve 2009 in Hollywood, California. The 12 black and white photographs were made in Spain during the winter of 2007 and lovingly capture Vartanov in his famous beret on the streets of Pamplona, as well as his meetings here with Jean Vigo’s daughter, the film critic Luce Vigo, Andrei Tarkovsky’s sister Marina Tarkovskaya, and Russian filmmakers Alexander Gordon and Herz Frank.

Mikhail Vartanov

2011-12-16T07:15:00.005+13:00

The documentary oeuvre of director Mikhail Vartanov began with the wordless Color of Armenian Land (1969) featuring the world famous behind-the-scenes episodes of Sergei Paradjanov's landmark Sayat Nova (1969).

Vartanov's public support of the imprisoned Paradjanov and the outspoken criticism of Armenia's corrupt film industry resulted in a blacklist shortly thereafter - his films were suppressed, unmentioned by press and banned from submission to foreign film festivals.

In those years, Vartanov exquisitely lensed Artavazd Peleshian's classic Seasons of the Year (1975) and Gennadi Melkonian's comedy The Mulberry Tree (1979). During the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vartanov directed the trilogy Erased Faces (1987), Minas: A Requiem (1989) and Paradjanov: The Last Spring (1992) - his masterpiece - a staggering drama about the man whom the regime persecuted but who stood his ground and triumphed.

The following decade Vartanov spent conducting film and photo experiments in a small Hollywood apartment. He will next appear in Erased Faces II by Martin Vartanov with whom he is producing Evrika, a film based on a method they call "direction of the undirected action."

The German Series #16 - Hans-Joachim Roedelius

2011-12-15T07:15:00.000+13:00

Hans-Joachim Roedelius, born in Berlin in 1934, starred as a child in a number of UFA films. He fled Berlin in 1943, moving from one place to another before being conscripted into the National People's Army (NVA) of the German Democratic Republic. Again he took flight, only to end up in prison.

He trained as a male nurse, then as a hospice orderly. Having relocated from East to West Berlin, he went on to meander through Europe (as a thatcher, detective, masseur, bartender, cleaning toilets), before finally becoming a freelance artist, with avant-garde music his prime focus. Co-founder of Berlin's first free art studio, the Zodiak Arts Lab (1967), he was also a founder member of various groups: Human Being, Kluster, Cluster, Harmonia, Tempus Transit and Lunzprojekt.

Life

2011-12-14T07:15:00.000+13:00

Life was a weeklynews magazine launched by Luce in 1936, with a strong emphasis on photojournalism. Life waspublished until 1972; as an intermittent "special" until 1978; and asa monthly from 1978 to 2000.

The Luce Life was thefirst all-photographic American news magazine, and it dominated the market formore than 40 years. The magazine sold more than 13.5 million copies a week atone point and was so popular that President Harry S. Truman, Sir Winston Churchill andGeneral Douglas MacArthur allserialized their memoirs in its pages (his son featuring on the cover of Life, below).

Life waswildly successful for two generations before its prestige was diminished byeconomics and changing tastes. Since 1972, Life hastwice ceased publication and resumed in a different form, before ceasing onceagain with the issue dated April 20, 2007. The brand name continues on theInternet and in occasional special issues.

Martin Martinček

2011-12-13T07:15:00.000+13:00

There is more in life to enjoy than berets; photography, for example. When travelling, my best souvenirs are photo-books by local artists, like the book Ako sa kruti svet (How the world turns around), by the late Martin Martinček. It is only now that I realize there is one great picture of a beret wearing woodcutter in there, among an endless number of other fantastic and extraordinary hats (see below).

Born in 1913 in the village of Liptovski Peter in the northwest Slovak Liptov region, Martin Martinček had always felt a close communion with nature and the Slovak countryside. Like many others of his generation, the second World War interrupted his life and career as a lawyer. He lost his first wife, two sons, and his father during the Slovak National Uprising, a Slovak resistance movement against the German occupiers in 1944. After the war, he helped organize the Commission of Justice and the Commission of Finance. He rose to become head of the Presidium of the Slovak National Council in Bratislava. Trying times followed.Following the Communist seizure of power in February 1948, his fortunes faded. Martincek first found himself in prison, and was then forced to perform hard labor at a brickyard in a Liptov village. He later worked on a communal chicken farm. A heart condition added to his troubles.

As political conditions improved, Martincek's newly-found career in photography began a gradual turn for the better in the late 1950s. He never had his own studio; the Liptov countryside served that purpose, and it served him well. He became a member of the Union of Slovak Artists and went on to co-found the Janko Kral Literary Museum in Liptovsky Mikulas. His increasing success enabled him to become a freelance photographer by 1961; a flurry of exhibits followed. He co-published his photographs with the works of famous poets such as Laco Novomesky and Milan Rufus. By 1970 his talents were receiving considerable fame. Both the Czecho-Slovak government and the International Association of Photography based in Bern, Switzerland, awarded him honorary titles. Other successes followed, including his inspiration of director Dusan Hanak's award winning 1972 film, "Images of the Old World." Martincek obtained the ultimate recognition for his achievements in 1998, when he became the first photographer ever to receive the highly coveted award named for Slovakia's most celebrated artist, the Martin Benka Prize.Martin Martinček died on 1 May, 2004.

Betty Boop

2011-12-12T07:15:00.000+13:00

Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character createdby Max Fleischer.

She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and the BettyBoop film series. She has also been featured in comicstrips and mass merchandising. Despite having been toned down in the mid-1930sto appear more demure, she became one of the most well-known and popularcartoon characters in the world.

Betty Boop is regarded as oneof the first and most famous sex symbols on theanimated screen; she is a symbol of the Depression era, and a reminder of the more carefree days of Jazz Age flappers.

Her popularity was drawn largely from adult audiences, and the cartoons, whileseemingly surreal, contained many sexual and psychological elements,particularly in the "Talkartoon," Minnie the Moocher, featuring Cab Calloway and his orchestra.

Pico de Neila (Castaños)

2011-12-11T07:15:00.000+13:00

Władysław Brzosko

2011-12-10T07:15:00.000+13:00

Władysław Brzosko was born into a Polish family in Siberia in 1912.

He trained in post-impressionist and cubist traditions at the Warsaw Fine Arts Academy during the 1930s, and continued his artistic education in Paris, before moving permanently to New York City in 1960.

Self-Portrait in Paris Studio, 1959

Brzosko’s prolific output ranges from oil landscapes of New York City depicting views along the Hudson and Harlem Rivers to the "Warsaw Ghetto Series,” a tribute to Jewish suffering during the Holocaust; to Watergate, a satirical composition commenting on American politics in the 1970s.

Portrait, 1984

He also created pastel and watercolor landscapes of Arizona, still lifes, and portraits. Brzosko has exhibited in Europe and in the United States.

He commented on his style: "My art is very simple. I am a modern realist concerned with problems of composition, form and color." Władysław Brzosko passed away in Arizona on May 26, 2011.

Another Scottish Variation on the Beret: the Tam O'Shanter

2011-12-09T07:15:00.000+13:00

Like the Balmoral, the tam o'shanter is a bonnet, related to the beret wornby (Scots)men. It was named after the character Tam o' Shanter in the poem of that name by Robert Burns. The bonnet is made of wool with a toorie (pompon)in the centre, and the crown is about twice the diameter of the head.Originally they were only made in blue because of the lack of chemical dyes,and were called Bluebonnets. They are now available in plain colors or indifferent tartans.

A form of Tam o'shanter called the "General Service Cap" wasworn during WWII bythe infantry regiments of the British and Canadian armies insteadof berets (which were made standard in thepostwar years). They were plain khaki in colour and were stiffer thancivilian tam o'shanters. Today, the ScottishDivision and some regimentsof the Canadian Forces continueto wear the Tam o' Shanter (abbreviated to TOS) as their 'battle headdress', ithas a narrower, flat crown, with Highland battalions shaping theirs slopingdown from back to front and the Lowland battalions wearing theirs with theexcess material pulled to the right side, similar to a beret.

Some regiments of the Canadian Army wear different coloured toories: the Royal HighlandFusiliers of Canada havetraditionally worn dark green; The North NovaScotia Highlanders worered toories during WWII; and the Stormont, Dundasand Glengarry Highlanders woreblue. Most regiments wear a khaki toorie, matching the hat.

In many regiments, it is traditional for soldiers to wear a tamo'shanter, while officers (andin some cases senior non-commissionedofficers) wear the Balmoral or Glengarry instead.

The Dutch Series #8 - Prinses Irene

2011-12-08T07:15:00.000+13:00

Princess Irene of the Netherlands (born 5August 1939) is the second child of the late Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.

Irene wearing the Carlist white (for women) beret at the yearly Carlist meeting on the Montejurra

Following a long familytradition of causing scandals, Irene did her part very well. While studyingSpanish in Madrid,she met Carlos Hugo ofBourbon-Parma, eldest son of Carlist pretenderto the throne of Spain Xavier, Duke of Parma. In the summer of 1963,Princess Irene secretly converted from Protestantism to RomanCatholicism. The first time the public or the Royal Family knewabout the conversion was when a photograph appeared on the front page of an Amsterdam newspapershowing the Princess kneeling at a Mass in theRoman Catholic Church of Los Jerónimos in Madrid.News leaked out that she was engaged to Prince Carlos Hugo (b.1930), provokinga Protestant outcry and a constitutional crisis.

Montejurra, 1973

A true drama in the

Netherlands

at the time, but much worse in my opinion, was her strong support for Carlism,the ultra-orthodox, conservative and sickly strain of Roman Catholicism that fought theRepublic and offered strong support for Franco during and after the SpanishCivil War.

Montejurra, 1973

Irene was very active in herhusband's right-wing political cause, but over time they drifted away fromright wing extremism to left wing sympathies and became a part of theinternational jet-set crowd.The prince, head of the Royal House of Bourbon-Parma, became a naturalized Spanish citizen in 1979.The couple had four children, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1981.

Beret, badges and scarf of the Prinses Irene Brigade

Since then, Irene embracednew-age, conversing with trees and dolphins - a much more sympathetic cause(but I question how much sympathy the soldiers serving in the Prinses IreneBrigade feel for it...).

Luis Mariano

2011-12-07T07:15:00.000+13:00

Mariano Eusebio González y García (1914 – 1970)aka Luis Mariano was a popular tenor of Spanish Basque origin who achievedcelebrity in 1946 with La belle de Cadix (The BeautifulLady of Cadix), an operetta by Francis Lopez.He appeared in the 1954 film Adventures ofthe Barber of Seville and Le Chanteur de Mexico (1957) and became popular in France as well as his native Spain.

Luis Mariano was born in Irun,Spain on 13 August 1914, theson of a garagiste and taxi-driver and showed interest in singing as a child.His family moved to Franceat the start of the Spanish Civil War andsettled in Bordeauxwhere he studied at the Conservatoire, and also sang in cabarets.

To earn a living, he sang in stage shows and appeared films,starting with 'L'escalier sans fin' in 1943. That year he auditioned for therole of Ernesto in Don Pasquale, and sang in the opera at the Palais de Chaillot and later at the Théâtre des Variétés, with Vina Bovy, recording excerpts from the opera. He also leftmany recordings of popular song and operetta.

He continued to appear in other films from 1946, including a singingrole in Napoléon and a film adaptation of Lehar's Der Zarewitsch.

His music is featured prominently in the 1996 Belgian film Le huitième jour in which he is played by Laszlo Harmati during scenes employing magical realism.

The Grave of Luis Mariano

The Pope and his White Beret

2011-12-06T07:15:00.003+13:00

This photo montage of the Pope kissing Egyptian imam Ahmed el-Tayeb was part of fashion label Benetton's latest Un-Hate campaign. No surprise the Vatican's wrath came over them and the picture was withdrawn - the good marketing work for Benetton already done.
Personally, I can't see any wrong with the picture, showing the love the church preaches. By adopting a humourless, intolerant stance towards the kissing scene the Vatican actually did the publicity pushers a great service.

Meanwhile, the Pope is known for wearing a true white beret as well. Great picture, the umbrella matching the beret's txortena so well.

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet

2011-12-05T07:15:00.002+13:00

Sinterklaas (ormore formally Sint Nicolaas or Sint Nikolaas), is a traditional Winter holiday figure in Dutch-speakingEurope (Netherlands and Flanders), and is also well known interritories of the former Dutch Empire, including South Africa, Aruba, Suriname, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Indonesia. He is one of the sources of theholiday figure of Santa Claus in North America.

It is celebrated annually onSaint Nicholas' eve (5 December) or, in Belgium, on the morning of 6December. Originally, the feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas—patronsaint of children, sailors, and the city of Amsterdam, among others.

A ZwartePiet (Black Pete) is a servant of Sinterklaas, usuallyan adolescent in blackface withblack curly hair, dressed up like a 17-th century page in acolourful dress, often with a lace collar, and donning a feathered beret.Yes, the tradition stems from a time before political correctness...

Sinterklaas is the basis forthe North American figure of Santa Claus.It is often claimed that during the American War of Independence theinhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam)reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of thecity's non-English past. Thename Santa Claus supposedly derived from older Dutch SinterKlaas.

Kangol (2)

2011-12-04T14:03:00.002+13:00

I first posted on KANGOL in April, 2009, starting with "KANGOL is a bit of a funny one..." and indeed, it is.

The short history of KANGOL, and it's founder Jacob Spreiregen, can be found here. It's an interesting history in many ways; one of them being the survival of the brand. Over the decades KANGOL saw many low's, but somehow always managed to get on top of it again, often by being adopted by some celebrity at the right time (LL Cool J, Samuel L. Jackson, etc).

These days the rights are held by US company Bollman Headwear and KANGOL is owned by Sports World, which didn't do the company much good in the sense of staying true to it's heritage and workers conditions.

The original factory in Cumbria is closed now (turned into a warehouse with a fraction of the original employees employed) and all hats are made overseas.
For a time, KANGOL berets were made in Taiwan, which resulted in a dislike by beret aficionados (poor quality felt and overall finishing - read the comments below my first post), but now I have managed to get my hands on a lot of KANGOL Monty® berets that are actually very nice in both comfort and quality.

The Monty® features the embroidered Kangol wordmark on the left hand side and is trimmed with a faux leather band. And available at a very competitive price @ $ 47.50 in Black, "Storm" and Red.

2011-12-04T07:15:00.001+13:00

Boina Tolosa Tupida Plato Grande

Émile Bernard

2011-12-03T07:15:00.000+13:00

Émile Henri Bernard (1868 – 1941) is known as a Post-Impressionist painter who had artistic friendships with Van Gogh, Gauguin and Eugene Boch, and at a later time, Cézanne. Most of his notable work was accomplished at a young age, in the years 1886 through 1897.

Self-portrait with portrait ofPaul Gauguin, Emile Bernard, 1888

He is also associated with Cloisonnism and Synthetism, two late 19th century art movements. Less known is Bernard's literary work, comprising plays, poetry, and art criticism as well as art historical statements that contain first hand information on the crucial period of modern art to which Bernard had contributed.

Fernando Aristizábal

2011-12-02T07:15:00.000+13:00

Fernando Aristizábal, Irun, 1917

Fernando Aristizábal was a member of the Basque NationalistParty from the age of fifteen.

At the beginning of the (Spanish Civil) war, he enlisted inthe militia of the PNV and participated in the defence of Irún and San Sebastian, armed witha private shotgun and nothing like a military uniform but his beret. Later, thebattalion fought in Vizcaya and Santander.

When the Basque troops had to surrender to Franco, he wasimprisoned and sentenced to death (but the sentence was commuted). He wasreleased in 1943.

That same year he joined the clandestine paramilitaryorganization Euzko Naia, aimed at maintaining order in Euskadi (the BasqueCountry within Spain)once disposed of Franco. He lived underground until 1953.

From 1979 till 1983, Aristizábal was a deputy of theparliamentary group in the Madrid Basque Congress.

Aristizabal among other prisoners sentenced to death in the Central Prison

Au revoir to France's last beret maker?

2011-12-01T07:15:00.000+13:00

"Au revoir to France's last beret maker?" is the title of this interesting video (thanks, Stephen), shown on the Fairfax site Australia.

Interesting viewing, but most interesting is that Beatex-Laulhere (1840) is presented as the last remaining French beret manufacturer, while their older (since 1819) competitor Blancq-Olibet is of course still very much in business!

LEGO

2011-11-30T07:15:00.000+13:00

Lego (trademarked as LEGO) is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, from Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts. Lego bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as vehicles, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects.

It all began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891 – 1958), the son of a poor farmer and himself a carpenter from Billund, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called "Lego", from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play-well".

The toys were originally designed in the 1940s in Denmark and have achieved an international appeal, with an extensive subculture that supports Lego movies, games, video games, competitions, and four Lego themed amusement parks.

And, with many berets in a variety of configurations and shapes!

The Kaheti (or Tusheti) Felt Hats

2011-11-29T16:58:00.001+13:00

The traditional felt hats from Georgia, generally referred to as "Kakhetian hats", are really from Tusheti, a small and almost inaccessible region in the high Caucasus Mountains, bordering Chechnya and Dagestan in the north and Kakheti in the east.

Unchanged for many centuries, these hats are still made according to local tradition and with skilled craftsmanship in the Tusheti Region. Hats always were the most important element of traditional Georgian garments. Apart from everyday use, these hats were worn by warriors under their steel helmets, to soften the blows by swords.

These Kakhetian felt hats are made from hand-pressed felt and decorated with a cross shaped string. Available in black and white @ $ 39.50.

Australian Beret Ban

2011-11-29T07:15:00.000+13:00

You don't need to be an Einstein to understand that the beret is a much more appropriate headgear to wear in a tank than a slouch hat, but military commanders across the ditch (from me) probably don't crawl into tanks much themselves.

From September 2010, the beret was banned across the Australian Army (except for the Special Forces) in favour of the traditional slouch hat.

So much for tradition, but it was exactly the opposite reasoning at the end of WWI that turned the Basque beret into a universal army headgear: away with tradition for utility, comfort, practicality and ease. The beret has no brim to get caught or get in the way in an enclosed environment, it protects the head without taking up any room, it's easy to roll up and stuff in your pocket (try that with a slouch hat!) and the black berets of the RAAC are pretty much stain and grease resistant.
And as for the risk of sunburn, maybe have a look at the French Chasseurs Alpins.

It sounds like the Aussies are following Big Brother in his sometimes hard to follow reasoning.

Thanks, Steve

Men in Red Berets

2011-11-28T07:15:00.000+13:00

It may be the most popular colour beret for women, men too wear red berets.

Historically the most obvious group were the Carlistas, a group of ultra-orthodox Catholics (we would say fanatic fundamentalists these days) who adopted the red beret (with tassel) as one of their symbols. Not something you'd want to be associated with, really.

But it is also the beret of choice for festivals, brass bands and worn at large parties.

Hugo Chavez is the most obvious representative in the category of military dictators (Khadafi did not wear one himself, but his all-female bodyguards did).

In the arts we find paintings by Frans Floris

and Gaugain

and of course there are the Guardian Angels:

The red beret I prefer wearing is a small diameter beret with the embroidered logo of the French motor club Les Petrolettes Dauphinoises.

New York, 1909

2011-11-27T07:15:00.002+13:00

New York, 1909

Women and Red Berets

2011-11-26T07:15:00.000+13:00

Supposedly, women in pre-Civil War Málaga wearing red berets were all prostitutes (Gerald Brenan in his highly recommended book The Face of Spain).

Couldn't be further from the truth these days, of course and suggesting otherwise would be very bad for my business, but red is definitely the favourite colour of my female customers.

In fashion, in daily wear, even the president of Argentina wears a boina roja.

Military Style Berets (by lack of a better definition...)

2011-11-25T07:15:00.000+13:00

Military style berets have been written about numerous times on The Beret Project and actually, I think I should find a better description for this kind of beret. It may be in the military style, but it is widely worn by a civilian population.

I have posted on Ralph Hotere before, Dizzy Gillespie, Bertil Vallien, Benjamin Nicholson and many more - non of them your average military person.
What I appreciate is the "humbleness" of these beret wearers, often stating that they picked their beret up at a local Army-Navy-Store, 2nd hand affairs getting a new lease on life.

Bertil Vallien

And , of course, the industry adapted to the need; Boinas Elosegui and Blancq-Olibet (Bakarra) making some of the nicest and quality berets in this style.

Czech manufacturer TONAK makes the Service Star and American Apparel have their own style again.
Kangol is the odd one out, always concentrated on the military (Montgomery) style beret.

In principal, a military style beret is a Basque beret, with the txortena (or 'wick', 'fuse') shorn off, a synthetic or leather rim on the outside of the natural woolen rim with a drawstring and often air vents added. Generally, the diameter is very small, <260mm.

Interestingly, this style beret seems especially popular in the Scandinavian countries (but I have no explanation as to the why.

The Scandinavian Series #13 - Bertil Vallien (2)

2011-11-24T07:15:00.000+13:00

A beautiful article from the Helsingborgs Dagblad. Needless to say, I fully sympathize with Bertil Vallien.

Glass artist Bertil Vallien refused to take off hisberet and consequently, was made to leave a restaurant in Helsingborg.

Bertiland his wife Ulrica Hydman Vallien spent the weekend in Helsingborg and visited restaurant "Bara Vara" ("Just Be") along with a few good friends. "When we sat down, a cheeky waitress came up to me and said that Ihad to remove my hat. I've always got myberet on me, it has pretty much grown attached to my head" he says.

"Iwear it always, even when I opened the altar in the Växjö cathedral. And I've had it at a black tie dinnerwhere I sat beside Crown Princess Victoria. It all went well."

Bertilsays he and his friends did not believe their ears. "They did not want thugs in therestaurant". I was cheeky back and said "I'ma nice guy at 73 years old and no thug"..

Thewaitress called on a colleague.

Hetold us to immediately leave the restaurant. Iwas sad, says Bertil.

"Ineed my beret. It is pure vanity. I'm fucking bald and a beret is goodfor my self-esteem. That's it. I was not being stupid or loud oranything. If they had a dresscode, they could tell us about it in a nice way."

Bertiland his company found another restaurant to eat dinner at. But then the evening was alreadyruined.

ChristofferSkoog, one of the owners to "Just Be", tells the Helsingborgs Dagblad that the ban on headgear is to be followed. We donot think it's nice to have to sit and eat a three course meal with your family orboyfriend and having to sit next to someone with his cap on. We work with fineingredients and fine wines. Wetry to keep the style all the way up."

Therule came about when the restaurant was visited by visitors with hats and caps whodid not want to take them off.

Accordingto Christopher Skoog, only headgear is banned. Otherwise, guests can dress as theyplease.

Christmas & New Years at The Beret Project

2011-11-23T08:29:00.000+13:00

Yes, we're getting to that time of year again - the holidays are coming up. And here, in the Southern Hemisphere, that doesn't only mean an alternative vegetarian X-mas lunch at the beach, but also a loooong Summer holiday.

No regular posts between 24 December and mid-January 2012. Also South Pacific Berets will be closed for business, so if you are thinking of ordering a new beret (what better X-mas present to give your neighbour, uncle, grandson, lover or father-in-law, after all?), make sure you order in time!

For the UK, Europe, North America and East Asia: order before 1 December. Australians have a wee bit longer, order before 8 December and the rest of the world: please order by 26 November.

The Scandinavian Series #12 - Jukka Nopsanen

2011-11-23T07:15:00.000+13:00

Finland #2, painter Jukka Nopsanen!

Self Portrait

I am a painter and a portrait painter drawing strength from my Finnish roots and nature.

I work also as a teacher of drawing and painting at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, the Aalto University.

I like classical and modern painting.

As an artist I depict the relationship and contradiction between human beings and nature. I stand for the nature and animals.

Jukka Nopsanen

The Scandinavian Series #11 - Bertil Vallien

2011-11-22T07:15:00.000+13:00

Celebrated internationally for his artistry and technical innovation, Bertil Vallien ranks among the superstars of Scandinavian design. Bertil, who has spent his entire professional career with Kosta Boda, received his formal art education at the Konstfack in his hometown, Stockholm, and studied on scholarship in the U.S. and Mexico.

Bertil works in a number of technique and often adds gold leaf and other non-glass materials to the finished piece and experiments with net and line effects. Bertil's works draw you into new dimensions of reality, playing with concepts of space and time, as he delights with his signature flying men, mysterious heads, imps and other fanciful creatures.

Lecturing and exhibiting throughout the world, Bertil is an ambassador for Kosta Boda and Swedish glass artistry. During the 1980's he was a guest lecturer at the Pilchuck Glass School Center in Washington state.

The New Top Quality Bakarra Excellence

2011-11-21T07:28:00.000+13:00

They've come in, just in time for Christmas (what better treat for yourself or a loved one)!

The Bakarra Excellence is (with the PeBeO Foulards) our absolute top quality beret.
Small diameter (9 pouces/256mm for the black and navy berets and 9.5 pouces/267mm for the brown berets), Blancq-Olibet's heaviest (densest) quality merino felted wool, impermeable, matching colour lining and the most beautiful finishing.

Temporarily @ $69.50.

Some interesting Vintage French Military Pictures

2011-11-21T07:15:00.000+13:00

Some interesting vintage French military photographs. The picture of the Infantery de Marine soldier above was taken in Verdun, 1932.

Army kitchen - date unknown

Roger Rambert, 7th Reg. Inf. of Africa, 1944 - Italian campaign

7th Reg. Inf. of Africa, June 1945 - In Germany, a few days after the war

2011-11-20T07:15:00.002+13:00

Jean Boiteux

2011-11-19T07:15:00.001+13:00

Jean Boiteux (1933 – 2010) was a French swimmer and Olympic champion from Marseilles.

He competedat the 1952 OlympicGames in Helsinki, where he received a gold medal in 400m freestyle. Boiteuxwas the first person from

France

to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming, but most attention he gained through his father, who dived fully clothed, with beret, into the pool, being the first to congratulate his son with his victory.

To celebrate the 57th year ofthe Jean Boiteux swimming club,

thekids jumped in with Boiteux, like his father in 1952 in Helsinki

Boiteux died after falling from a tree in his garden on April 11, 2010 atthe age of 76.

Camembert

2011-11-18T07:15:00.001+13:00

Camembert is one of the most famous cheeses in France and French cheeses world-wide, even though the cheese dates back only to the 18th century.

Camembert was reputedly first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy, following advice from a priest who came from Brie.

Before fungi were understood, the colour of Camembert rind was a matter of chance, most commonly blue-grey, with brown spots. From the early 20th century onwards, the rind has been more commonly pure white, but it was not until the mid-1970s that pure white became standard.

The cheese was famously issued to French troops during World War I, becoming firmly fixed in French popular culture as a result. It has many other roles in French culture, literature and history. It is now internationally known, and many local varieties are made around the world.
Christmas tree ornaments, made of German mouth blown glass and hand painted

The variety named "Camembert de Normandie" was granted a protected designation of origin in 1992 after the original AOC in 1983.

Blancq-Olibet- 1960's Catalogue

2011-11-17T07:15:00.000+13:00

S.P.B.'s own Basco Roma's

2011-11-16T07:16:00.003+13:00

After modifying my own Basco Roma by taking out the satin lining and changing the faux-leather headband for a lamb leather one, I thought there may be more Roma-enthusiasts who would appreciate such a beret.

The result is a small number of modified Basco Roma's, made exclusively for South Pacific Berets by Baschificio A. Setti. Identical to the standard Basco Roma, but un-lined and fitted witha very comfortable soft leather headband. Only at S.P.B.

$ 40.00

Braon šubara

2011-11-16T07:15:00.002+13:00

More hats from Serbia. The Braon šubara is a brown winter hat made of artificial fur, traditionally worn by Serb and Montenegrin mountain people and, during WW2, Partisan and Chetnik freedom fighters.

Huge hats that can easily fit over a Šajkača (see yesterday's post). I have a small number of these great and heavy winter hats in stock; all in one size (if too large, one folds the rim outwards to make it fit snug and comfortable).

$ 30.00

Šajkača

2011-11-15T07:15:00.003+13:00

The Šajkača originated in the 18th century. It was originally worn by the Serbian river fleet as a military headgear (uniform) in the service of the Habsburg Empire (known as the šajkaši) around the Danube and Sava Rivers.

These men conducted small-scale raids against the Ottomans, thus allowing Serb refugees from the Ottoman Empire to safely flee to the Habsburg Empire. The refugees copied the design of the hat and spread it widely within the Serbian community.

The distinctive hat is recognizable by its top part which looks like the letter V or like the bottom of a boat (viewed from above). It gained wide popularity in the early 20th century as it became an official part of the Serbian military uniform in 19th century. It was initially worn only by soldiers, the officers wore contemporary french-style Kepis but later wearing Peaked caps, but after 1903. it became part of the standard officer's uniform as well (the officers' ones were modified with a peak). It would continue to be used by the Royal Yugoslav Army.

During World War II, it was shortly worn by Serbian members of the Yugoslav Partisans until it was replaced by "Titovka" cap for soldiers and Peaked cap for officers' parade uniform.

During the Bosnian war, the hat was worn by Bosnian Serb military commanders and many volunteer units in the 1990s. This made me hesitate to sell these hats; having worked in the self proclaimed Serb Republic in Bosnia during the war, I know first hand what the fanatics who wore the Šajkača did - it's a very ugly story.

But it's not the Šajkača that committed the evil, like the berets worn by the French milice's and Franco's Carlists and Phalangists are responsible for the misery and evil their wearers caused.

Today the hat is commonly seen in rural villages across Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, often worn by elderly men.
I have imported a small quantity of these hats and these are now available through South Pacific Berets (or right here at this blog)

These Šajkača's are hand made in Serbia in a wool/cotton blend, cotton lined and stretch well to fit snug.

Alfa Romeo

2011-11-14T07:15:00.001+13:00

Where have the days gone that racing car drivers wore berets as a standard headgear? Great aerodynamics, oil- and dirt resistant and easy to stuff in an overalls pocket.

Attilio Marinoni (1892 – 18 June 1940), pictures above and below, was an Italian racecar driver from Lodi, Lombardy.

After World War I, Marinoni joined the Alfa Romeo racing team as a mechanic. He became co-driver with Giuseppe Campari in the 1924 French Grand Prix. In an Alfa Romeo 6C, he won the 1927 Coppa Ciano and three Spa 24 Hours in a row: in 1928 with Boris Ivanowski, in 1929 with Robert Benoist, and in 1930 with Pietro Ghersi. He was promoted to chief mechanic and test driver of Scuderia Ferrari between 1934 and 1937. He died when he crashed an Alfa Romeo 158/159 Alfetta racing car on the Milan-to-Varese autostrada.

Battista Guidotti (picture above) too raced for Alfa Romeo and became their first test driver after winning the Mile Miglia in 1930. From WWII till his retirement in 1963 he was the team manager for Alfa Romeo.

2011-11-13T07:15:00.000+13:00