Milliner Stephen Jones

Stephen Jones with beret

Stephen Jones OBE (born 31 May 1957) is a leading British milliner based in London, who is considered one of the world's most radical and important milliners of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He is also one of the most prolific, having created hats for the catwalk shows of many leading couturiers and fashion designers, such as John Galliano at Dior and Vivienne Westwood His work is known for its inventiveness and the high level of technical expertise with which he realises his ideas. Jones co-curated the 2009 exhibition Hats: An Anthology for the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Grace Jones, Diana Ross, George Michael, Spandau Ballet and Culture Club were among Jones's first high-profile celebrity clients in the 1980s.

Jerry Hall wearin a Stephen Jones beret

Jones also made the hats for Faye Dunaway in Supergirl, provided hats to Beverly Hills Cop II and Entrapment. From the 1990s onwards his film commissions became more frequent, including designs for Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians, the Spice World film, Jurassic Park, Lost In Space, and the hats for Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles) and Parker in Thunderbirds. 

Jones' mini-berets at the Marc Jacobs Fall 2011 runway show

He created the hats for leading ladies such as Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Keira Knightley in Atonement, Dita Von Teese in The Death of Salvador Dali, and Audrey Tautou in Coco avant Chanel. Tautou reportedly commented during her fitting that Jones's hats made her feel like Coco Chanel, the character she was playing.

Dachshund

Olga Sherer inspiree par Gruau

Following yesterday's post on René Gruau, this creation by milliner Stephen Jones for Christian Dior, "Olga Sherer inspiree par Gruau", Autumn/Winter 2007-2008, is inspired by Gruau's work and makes a cliché  of the cliché  that all painters wear a beret (which isn't that far from the truth, of course...).

The Germans are Coming!

Oh yes, the Germans are coming!

I should have these Baskenmütze mid-May at the latest; some of the most comfortable berets I have ever worn (haven't worn anything else since receiving my first sample two weeks ago!). 

Quite different from any other beret I stock (or own); these berets have a small rim of sewn-on felted wool, lifting the beret a few millimeters from the head, finished with a slim leather headband. 

The berets are fitted with two air vents and finished with an unusual pleasant lining. 

My sample (as per these pictures on the top of Tinakori Hill in Wellington) is a navy coloured one, but they'll become available in both navy and black. 

I'll keep you updated!


And since I'm talking new stock anyway, let me tell you that South Pacific Berets now stocks 32.5cm Super Lujo's in navy and maroon.

Click here.

René Gruau

René Gruau (1909 - 2004) was a renowned fashion illustrator whose exaggerated portrayal of fashion design through painting has had a lasting effect on the fashion industry. Gruau's skills and creativity contributed to a change in the entire fashion industry. 

The benefits, including economic stimulation and enhancement of advertising are still vividly presented in the industry today via a new way of fashion illustration and fashion photography. 

Gruau became one of the best known and favorite artists of the haute couture world during the 1940s and 50s working with Femina, Marie-Claire, L'Officiel, L'Album Du Figaro and an assortment of “high-style” magazines. Gruau’s artwork is recognized and commended internationally in some of Paris' and Italy's most prestigious art museums including the Louvre in Paris. In addition to his international fame and recognition, "Gruau's artwork is known for its timeless and enduring style"

Got Milk?

Maggie Gyllenhaal wears a leopard-print dress, black beret, and the iconic milk mustache in the latest ad from got milk?. 

The 34-year-old actress stars in the campaign’s first-ever latte ad, which aims to inspire moms to start each morning with a latte made with lowfat or fat free milk at home.

The ad reads, “Ooh La Latte. Start your day with something delicious and nutritious. Surprise. The milk in your morning latte provides essential nutrients most of us are missing. ‘C’est magnifique!’” 

Buchenwald Survivors (7)

Studio portrait of Buchenwald survivor, Ludwig Grunberger, wearing a prisoner uniform. Ludwig Grunberger was born on July 15, 1928 and grew up in Uzhorod.


Date: 1945 
Locale: Unknown Locale 
Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Jacques Ribons 
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Buchenwald Survivors (6)

Jakob Rybsztajn (now Jacques Ribons) is the son of Peretz Rybsztajn (b. 1905) and Bella (Bajal, b. 1906) Rybsztajn.


Date: 1945 - 1946 
Locale: Ambloy, [Loir-et-Cher] France 
Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Binem Wrzonski 
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Buchenwald Survivors (5)

Group portrait of Jewish DP youth who numbered among the Buchenwald children, at an OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) children's home in France [either in Ambloy or Taverny]. 

Date: 1945 - 1947 
Locale: Taverny, [Val-d'Oise] France 
Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Claude & Judith Feist Hemmendinger 
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Boinas Elósegui's Exposición Super Lujo Militar

The Boinas Elósegui's Exposición Super Lujo Militar is the military version of the Basque beret Super Lujo. A beautiful beret made to the same very high standard of the civilian Super Lujo: 100% dense Australian merino wool, fitted with two air vents, full lining, outside headband with drawstring in 260mm (10.24") diameter.

These black berets are the standard headgear of the Spanish Airborne Forces ("Paracadaistas") and the Spanish Foreign Legion ("Legión Española" or colloquially "El Tercio").

Available here in sizes 58, 59 and 60 @ $ 49.00.

In quality, military style berets don't come any better than this.

Buchenwald Survivors (4)

Studio portrait of Alex Kormen, one of the Buchenwald Boys.

Date: Aug 28, 1945 
Locale: Ambloy, [Loir-et-Cher] France 
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Buchenwald Survivors (3)

Studio portrait of Meir Binem (Beniek) Wrzonski, the son of Noah Wrzonski (b. 1898 in Lodz) and Rajzel Maroko (b. 1900 in Lodz). 

Date: Jul 12, 1945 
Locale: Ambloy, [Loir-et-Cher] France 
Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Binem Wrzonski 
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Buchenwald Survivors (2)

Jakob Rybsztajn (now Jacques Ribons)

Date: Circa Jul 1945 - Aug 1945 
Locale: Ambloy, [Loir-et-Cher] France 
Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Jacques Ribons 
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum


The Buchenwald children were a group of approximately 1000 Jewish child survivors found by American troops when they liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945. Most of the children were originally from Poland, though others came from Hungary, Slovenia and Ruthenia. Unsure of what to do with the child survivors, American army chaplains, Rabbi Herschel Schacter and Rabbi Robert Marcus, contacted the offices of the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants), the Jewish children's relief organization in Geneva. They arranged to send 427 of the children to France, 280 to Switzerland and 250 to England. [Vivette Samuels reverses the figures for England and Switzerland in her monograph, "Sauver les Enfants."] On June 2, 1945 OSE representatives arrived in Buchenwald, and together with Rabbi Marcus escorted the transport of children to France. Rabbi Schacter accompanied the second transport to Switzerland. Because of the difficulty in finding clothing for the children, the boys were clad in Hitler Youth uniforms. This created a problem, for when the train crossed into France, it was greeted by an angry populace who assumed the train was carrying Nazi youth. Thereafter the words "KZ Buchenwald orphans" were painted on the outside of the train to avoid confusion. On June 6, 1945 the French transport arrived at the Andelys station and the orphans were taken to a children's home in Ecouis (Eure). The home had been set up to accommodate young children, but in fact only 30 of the boys were below the age of 13. This was only one of the many problems faced by the OSE personnel, who were not prepared to handle a large group of demanding, rebellious teenagers who were full of anger for what they had experienced.

Buchenwald Survivors (1)

A number of readers of this blog suggested to write about the 'berets' worn by prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps. I always thought these hats had no place on this blog, but maybe they do...
Why on earth the Nazi's chose a hat that resembles so strongly a symbol of the French, I don't know; it was most likely the simple manufacturing and cost effectiveness more than anything else. 
But yes, they are a kind of beret and over the next few days I'll post a week-long series of berets related to Buchenwald - most pictures and data coming from the United States Holocaust Museum. The first one , the Nazi version of a beret, comes from the National D-Day Memorial though:

David Daniel Gary was held as a French political prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp. Nazi authorities seemed unaware of his Jewish heritage. His father died in Auschwitz. The Gary collection includes photos of the Holocaust along with photos of the victory celebrations and of comrades in the Resistance. The collection includes his prison camp beret and his FFI jacket. His story chronicles the Holocaust and one family's fight for freedom.

Jude Acers

If you have visited New Orleans or live there, you’ve probably seen Jude Acers (pronounced a-kers). He invariably wears a red beret and sets up his “World Chess Table” on Decatur Street near the Gazebo Cafe, a short walk from Cafe du Monde. He charges five dollars a game or into the thousands for more intensive lessons.

He returned to New Orleans in 1979 after a decade living in San Francisco and zigzagging the country on Greyhound buses. He gave chess exhibitions in malls, elementary schools, colleges and prisons, and a couple times got himself listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for simultaneous chess games by an individual. He sometimes hustled to keep himself fed.

Jude set a Guinness World Record for playing 117 people in simultaneous chess games on April 21, 1973 at the Lloyd Center Mall in Portland, Oregon. On July 2-3, 1976 Jude played 179 opponents at Mid Isle Plaza (Broadway Plaza) in Long Island, New York for another Guinness record

Dolores Hart (God is the Bigger Elvis)

Dolores Hart kissed Elvis Presley in her first film, starred in nine more movies within six years, and then gave it all up to become a nun.

Hart is the subject of “God Is the Bigger Elvis”. Filming began last July at the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Connecticut, where she’s lived since 1963.

Hart, now 73, rose to fame playing Presley’s love interest in the 1957 movie “Loving You.” She locked lips with the legendary singer in that film, and was soon cast in several others.

She appeared with George Hamilton in 1960’s “Where the Boys Are,” and opposite Stephen Boyd in 1962’s “The Inspector.” Hart even starred alongside Presley again in 1958’s “King Creole.”

Dolores Hart in the 1961 movie "The Inspector."

She first visited the abbey to rest after suffering from fatigue while starring in the Broadway show “The Pleasure of His Company.” Hart felt at peace there, and returned several times as she continued to make movies.

Hart realized she wanted to commit to God. She joined the abbey at age 24 and became a Roman Catholic nun at 25.

Dolores Hart is the only beret-wearing RC nun I know of.

New Basco Francia in Grey and Brown!

The 'Popular Workers Beret', or Basco Roma, is one of the most popular berets that I sell - and with good reason. It may not meet the same (very high) quality standards of the Spanish Boinas Elosegui Super Lujo and French Blancq-Olibet berets, but I dare say it is -for me- one of the most comfortable berets I have ever worn (and believe me, I do have a few berets...). 

Similar for the slightly larger version: the Basco Francia. A 'big' Roma really, with a slightly wider headband and a large embroidered Super Basque label. 275mm diameter.

And I am very happy to have these Francia's finally available not only in black, but also in grey and brown! Click here. And still at the old low price of $ 39.50!

Debbie Harry / Blondie

Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s. Their first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next three years, the band achieved several hit singles and became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles incorporating elements of disco, pop, rap, and reggae,while retaining a basic style as a New Wave band.

Blondie broke up after the release of their sixth studio album The Hunter in 1982. Deborah Harry continued to pursue a solo career with varied results after taking a few years off to care for partner Chris Stein, who was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin.

The band reformed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a number one single in the United Kingdom with "Maria" in 1999. The group toured and performed throughout the world during the following years, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Blondie has sold 40 million records worldwide and is still active today. Their ninth studio album, Panic of Girls, was released in 2011.

2008

Peaked Berets - Fully Stocked!

I couldn't have imagined these peaked berets being so popular, selling out in only 2 weeks time!

But, NZPost dragged up a large parcel with new stock up the driveway this morning and all back-ordered peaked
berets have been posted today! 

I have bought the complete stock of my supplier and I have no idea when I can order again. So, if interested, best to order soon! I was fortunate to be able to order two peaked berets in other colours as well: camel and brown. Be quick! 14 March: Camel sold out, brown and black available.

$43.50 / 45.50 including international postage and handling!