Soft Erotica, Berets and Chechias...

Although the beret is, as you all know, the ultimate in erotic fashion (here, here & here), not everyone is aware that this goes for the chechia as well. 

This is especially true for US Showbiz, but there must be a certain attraction for women in seeing French zouaves too. 

 Get you own, right here!

A Bag of Trouble...

This poster, undated but likely from WWII, is a lot less subtle than it's Spanish counterpart, below.

Motorcycle Gangs

Yes, motorcycle gangs, another hard core group of beret wearers. These great shots are by Magnum photographer Eve Arnold.

Jerry Casper

Jerry Casper is a professional free lance artist and photographer residing in New Jersey.  He is a graduate of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, where he received his degree in Industrial Design.  Jerry pursued a career in commercial art, design and photography.  His experience includes extensive work in textile design, package design and all phases of studio artwork.

 Jerry is the recipient of many awards in fine art and photography and is currently a member of Through the Lens, a newly formed group of diverse artists and photographers. He also exhibits his artwork and photographs regularly throughout Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Tennis

Yes, those were the days, when magazines dictated tennis players to wear a Basque beret. 

 Major Walton Clopton Wingfield, inventor of lawn tennis

 Jean Borotra

 Jean Borotra

 Jean Borotra

Tennis Masters Bilbao, with txapeldun, naturally

Vasca Calidad EF

I came upon this printed ad, advertising quality "EF Boinas". No idea about age or the company. If any reader knows more, please drop me a line here. 

South Pacific's New Ad

This is the new ad for www.SouthPacificBerets.com, to appear in 'The Volunteer', the magazine of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.

The background is the Dalí Museum in Figueras (Spain) with Dalí's painting 'Homage to Rothko' in the background.

Dali loved complex titles and 'Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters becomes a Portrait of Abraham Lincoln' is one of the longer ones, including its subtitle, 'Homage to Rothko'. But it sums up the major feature for viewers, which is the spectacular double image Dali created. Though he took the work seriously, he was having some fun, making us work for that optical illusion. The best way to see it is from 20 meters (almost 66 feet). At the Dali Museum, it hangs at the end of the large back gallery so you can take a close look at it, then back up until you see Lincoln's image emerge.
And yes, even from your computer monitor you can see the effect; enlarge the picture and move away from the monitor as far as you can. 

Paris. Edward Fox, playing 'The Jackal' hired to shoot Charles de Gaulle, 

in the film of The Day of the Jackal, shot in Paris and directed by Fred Zinnemann. 1972

Nobel prize winner and president of the ANC (African National Congress) Albert Luthuli. 1961.

Argentina. Gauchos out in the early morning to exercise their horses. 1998

Magnum Series: Dennis Stock

New York City, 1951. A new face for the New World (immigrant)

New York City, 1951. Refugee with immigration officers at New York dock

Paris, France. 1958

Village Hat Shop vs South Pacific Berets

Googling for a place to find berets for sale, you are most likely to first get to the Village Hat Shop (who own the web site www.berets.com). 

Good colleagues, sure, (I appreciate all promotion of berets!), but I don't like their claim: "Berets.com - the largest selection of berets from around the world."
Not just because www.SouthPacificBerets.com claims exactly that ("the largest selection of berets, anywhere on the planet"), but because we are!   

Going through an interesting variety of berets on berets.com, I can't help noticing that there are practically no berets made by any of the few traditional beret manufacturers left in the world. Indeed, only the Jaxon (a custom label made by one of the French manufacturers) would qualify as a true beret, while the rest all comes from either the US (Bretmar) and mostly China.  

Just for the record: South Pacific Berets is the only retailer in the world that sells berets from all traditional Basque beret manufacturers, including numerous brands that are virtually unavailable anywhere else on the internet!

Magnum Series: Inge Morath

 USSR, Andreï Dostoievski, the grandson of the writer. 1967

Paris, France. Artist Jean Arp with one of his sculptures behind him. 1956.

New York City. 1992. Sculptor Louise Bourgeois in an Upper Westside coffee shop.

Magnum Series: Werner Bischof

Village of Vassieux-en-Vercors, Rhone-Alpes Region, France. Bar. 1945.

Ind-China, 1952

Rouen, France

Magnum Series: David Seymour

North of France, Young Miners, 1935

 Asturia Region, Spain. Miners play an important role in the Republic's economy, 

where slogans such as "Save the Production" pervade. 1936.

Workers receiving papers at the Duro-Felguera mines. Langreo, Spain. February 1937.

Magnum Series: Bruno Barbey

81, boulevard Kellerman, 13th arrondissement, Paris, France. 

Meeting of workers and students at Charlety Stadium. May 27th, 1968.

City of Donesk, Ukraine. 'In a factory', 1988.

Istanbul, Turkey, 2011

The Linen DEER Berets Are In!

With my first order of Japanese DEER berets, I ordered a small number of linen berets, as a try-out. They sold out instantly and, 6 months ahead of schedule, I placed another order with DEER. They have just come in, beautiful berets in a 65/35% linen/cotton combination.

The perfect beret for warm weather; these make the cotton Argentinean berets suddenly feel thick and heavy!

Available in a range of colours: Navy, Green, Brown, Light Grey and Wine. 

These linen berets have the same characteristics as the woolen DEER berets: superb finish and a hawk's eye for detail. Couldn't stop myself adopting two for my own use! 

Have a look here; highly recommended!

And just for good measure, new woolen DEER berets in brown have also been added to the stock (picture above). Frankly, you wouldn't find any other beret with such beautiful lining!

New Chechias in Stock!

It took me a while, but finally: the new traditional Chechias in vermilion (red) are in.

There have been a few posts on Chechias previously (here and here) - what more to add? These hats are just the most comfortable woolen hats one can wish for, extremely soft to the touch (100% felted merino wool), traditional artisan craftsmanship and very hard to find anywhere else.

Available in sizes 57-61.

My dear friend Pieter, with Checia

Magnum Series: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Member of the Abe Lincoln Brigade, Spanish Civil War

Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices located in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo. According to co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually."

Russia. Pskov. 1973

And interestingly -but not surprising- many members and subjects show berets! I am very happy to have found a treasure trove of (often vintage) beret photographs; a new series on The Beret Project is born!

Shepherd, Ariza (Aragon) Spain, 1953 

To start if off: co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson.