Restocking Argentinian Berets

Problems -again- with the restocking of Argentinian berets. 

The previous shipment took 16 months between my order and delivery here in Wellington and I fear it is going to be a close race for the present order to be under that.

Presently, quite a few models have already sold out (especially many of the sunwashed cotton models, the Espinosa's and the Tolosa Tupida's in special colours) and many berets are only available in (very) small numbers.

If you want to ensure your own, order soon!

Basco!

Basco -- the Beatles of folk, the Fantastic Four of folk, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (of folk) -- on stage they melt together in a wild maelstrom of music, energy, beautiful tunes and, when forced to admit it, some rather silly comments.

Their tunes are chiefly self composed, stealing frivolously and shamelessly from Scandinavian, English, Scottish, Irish and North American idioms, which, together with their hefty ensemble playing, gives Basco a unique sound.

The name: not necessarily from the Italian word for 'Basque Beret', but named after the leader’s uncle’s dog...

Capa in Color

A crewman signals another ship of an Allied convoy across the Atlantic from the US to England

Photographer Robert Capa has featured numerous times on The Beret Project, but never in colour.

Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders on the set of ‘Viaggio in Italia’ "Capa in Colour" is an exhibition showing exactly what it sounds like, a series of (beautiful) photographs by Capa in colour. And naturally, many berets feature in his work.

Model wearing Dior on the banks of the Seine, Paris, France Meet Cynthia Young, curator of the show "Capa in Color", presenting the exhibition in the Château de Tours.

¡Viva la evolución!

"Long live evolution!" is a play on words with the Spanish "¡Viva la revolución!" ("Long live the revolution"), which refers to the Castro led revolution in Cuba. 

Both Charles Darwin and a chimpanzee, posed like Che Guevara, with beret, are often used to visually supporting the statement.

Paul de Vivie

Paul de Vivie was publisher of Le Cycliste, an early champion of derailleur gears, and father of French bicycle touring and randonneuring.

De Vivie imported machines from England. In 1889 he made a bike of his own, called La Gauloise. It had a diamond frame, chain and a single gear. De Vivie was riding the col de la République (10 km south east of St Etienne) in 1889 when one of his readers overtook him - smoking a pipe. De Vivie felt challenged but also trapped: if he lowered his gear, he would go slower on the flat. But on the gearing that he had, he could not climb hills fast enough either. British thinking favoured epicyclic and planetary gears, concealed in the rear hub. De Vivie created the derailleur. His first had two chain wheels; the chain had to be lifted by hand from one to the other. He then placed two chain wheels on the left side. The combination gave him four gears.In 1901 Velocio combined his invention with the four-speed proteon gear of the English Whippet, which used a split chain wheel. Pedalling backwards made the two halves of the chain wheel open. Pawls then secured them in one of four positions. De Vivie's development appeared in his Cheminot in 1906, the first derailleur. He overlooked taking out a patent and made barely any money from an invention which changed cycling.

It has been said that de Vivie invented something which already existed, in Britain, and simply made the derailleur better known.

Traditional cyclists did not appreciate his gears. The organiser of the Tour de France, Henri Desgrange, dismissed them in L'Auto as fit only for invalids and women. De Vivie campaigned for his invention and rode every morning up the col de la République for the joy of passing riders without them.

Francisco Artola Beuzón

Francisco Artola Beuzón was born in El Puerto de Santa María in 1927. The fascist revolt of 1936 left him without a father, a socialist carpenter who was shot by Franco’s rebels. 

As a child he began working in various trades until, at age 18, he started working as a cooper at a wine cellar. He married Lola Ibáñez in 1954.

He was a militant member of the Communist Party of Spain since 1958 and did important trade union and political work, especially during the dictatorship. His political work got him into prison for several years.

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort  (The Young Girls of Rochefort) is a 1967 French musical film written and directed by Jacques Demy, starring Catherine Deneuve and her sister Françoise Dorléac.

It takes place over the course of one weekend in the seaside town of Rochefort, where a fair is coming to the town square. The story centers on twin sisters Delphine and Solange — Delphine teaches ballet classes and Solange gives music lessons for a living, but each longs to find her ideal love and a life outside of Rochefort. 

When the fair comes to town, Delphine and Solange meet two smooth-talking but kind-hearted carnies, Étienne and Bill.

Lisa Simone

Lisa Celeste Stroud (1962), known by her stage name, Simone, is an American singer and actress, known for her work in the Broadway theatre field. She is the daughter of the late American vocalist and civil rights activist Nina Simone.

Before her acting career, Simone served in the United States Air Force as an engineering assistant. Afterwards, she sang background for various European artists and was part of the Spanish artist Raphael's touring chorus.

Simone's stage debut was in a national tour of the Andrew Lloyd Webber rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar, as Soul Sister and understudy for Mary.

She tours frequently, singing jazz standards and her own material, most recently on tour in Europe with her 2014 album All Is Well. Pictured here (by Pierre-Emanuel Michel) with her musicians while touring the south of France and wearing Laulhère berets. 

The Old Beret Factory at Arthez-d'Asson

Arthez-d'Asson (Occitan: Artés d'Asson) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France, some 35 km south-east of Oloron-Sainte-Marie.

This being the very heartlands of French berets, it is no surprise to find some beret related history here. These photographs by Pierre-Emanuel Michel are of the old beret factory, I believe to be Etablissemnt Dufour.

An Evolution in Berets

Yep, that time of the year again - my birthday. 54, thank you very much. Celebrating it here with my life's evolution (so far) in berets.

And yes please, make my day and buy a beret!

The oldest beret photo of myself I seem to possess. An old Royal Netherlands Marines affair from the local army surplus store in, I believe, 1984. 

A Chechen 'boivik' (fighter) beret; a gift from my Chechen bodyguard Issa when leaving the medical project in Chechnya.

Driving our old Triumph TC2000, wearing my large diameter Bakarra on our organic farm Fossil Creek (2002?).

Again at our farm Fossil Creek, in Afghan clothes, wearing a pakol.

This must be my first cotton beret, a boina Tolosa Tupida from Argentina, Belmont Park, 2008.

Long haired old hippy at the beach at Paekakariki, somewhere around 2010, wearing a sun-washed green boina Tolosa Tupida.

A cold clear winter's day, a couple of years ago, wearing a German Baskenmuetze with the volcano Mount Ruapehu in the background. 

Present day's artist impression by my friend Jean-Claude Pertuzé.

Rey Gitano

Rey Gitano is a 2015 film, directed by Juanma Bajo Ulloa. 

José Mari and Primitivo, two unemployed and failed detectives with conflicting ideologies know a rogue and seductive gypsy who propose them a crazy mission. After that, their luck will change for the worse.

Fred Holland Day

Fred Holland Day (1864 - 1933) was an American photographer and publisher. He was the first in the U.S.A. to advocate that photography should be considered a fine art.

Day was the son of a Boston merchant, and was a man of independent means for all his life. Day's life and works had long been controversial, since his photographic subjects were often nude male youths; his private life however was a very private matter.

Day spent much time among poor immigrant children in Boston, tutoring them in reading and mentoring them. One in particular, the 13-year-old Lebanese immigrant Kahlil Gibran, went on to fame as the author of The Prophet.

There is a photo "Portrait of F. Holland Day in Arab Costume, 1901", while he travelled Algeria, by Frederick H. Evans. But more interesting for us boineros is the famous photograph of him wearing a large diameter beret by Edward Steichen in 1906, named “Solitude”.

Blood of the Beasts (Le Sang des bêtes)

Many berets in 1949’s Parisian slaughterhouses, but be warned, this film is most unpleasant to watch (understatement).

Blood of the Beasts (Le Sang des bêtes) is a 1949 short French documentary film written and directed by Georges Franju. It is Franju's first film and is narrated by Georges Hubert and Nicole Ladmiral. 

The film is a special feature on The Criterion Collection DVD for Franju's Eyes Without a Face (1960).

Alas, if posting this makes even one more vegetarian, that's a gain!

Chasseurs Alpins and Goats

Faithful followers of this blog know not only of my love for (large diameter) berets, but of a similar affection for goats and, to a slightly lesser extent, beret badges of the French Chasseurs Alpins.  

Coincidentally, these three subjects all come together very nicely, with many (vintage) beret badges carrying a goat (or ibex, chamois, etc).  

The 30th Chasseurs a Pied, for instance, and the 22nd Chasseurs Alpins.

A really nice example is the badge of the 47th battalion of Chasseurs Alpins. 

But best of all, is the 96h battalion of Chasseurs a Pied, with their motto "Bigue-Les". My French being insufficient, I had to resort to my friend Jean-Claude, who gave me this beautiful lecture:

"I didn’t know the word ‘bique’ on the badge, but I found it. Actually it isn’t exactly French, it’s Arpitan or Franco-provençal, the form of Occitan spoken mainly in the Alps (and almost disappeared, except for single words used in French, like this one). So the verb ‘biquer’, from Occitan ‘bicar’, means ‘give a kiss’, exactly like the French ‘baiser’ that means first ‘give a kiss’ but has now the meaning of ‘fuck’. So ‘bique-les’ means ‘kiss them’, or ‘fuck them’ (the enemies). Just choose."

Thank you, Jean-Claude. I love it!

Andres de Irujo Ollo

Andres de Irujo Ollo (1907 - 1993) was the son of lawyer Daniel Irujo y Urra, pioneer of Basque nationalism in Navarre and defender of Sabino Arana and the brother of Manuel de Irujo y Pello Irujo .

He joined the Basque Nationalist Party at age 16 and studied Law at Madrid.

Andres de Irujo Ollo was one of the signatories of the "Republican Manifesto" of the Ateneo de Madrid which was headed by Manuel Azana.

At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War he moved to San Sebastián and was named commissioner of the Interior on the Board of Defense and participated in reorganizing the Brigade of Public Order where he was responsible for guarding prisons of Ondarreta and Kursaal, avoiding arbitrary executions. He supervised the orderly evacuation of San Sebastian before the Nationalist columns entered the city.

In 1937 when his brother Manuel was Minister of Justice, he was secretary of the ministry.

Initially he went into exile in France and became there the Basque Government representative. After the German occupation of France, he left for Argentina .

He participated in the founding of the American Institute of Basque Studies and Eusko Kultur Etxea - House of Basque Culture.