Frane Matošić

Frane Matošić (1918 –2007) was a Croatian football player and coach from Split. 

He played at the position of striker. He is regarded as one of Hajduk Split's greatest players ever and is their all-time leading goalscorer.

Matošić was a long time Yugoslav national team player. He played 16 games and scored 6 goals for Yugoslavia.

Pío Leiva

Pío Leiva (1917 –2006) was a Cuban singer and the author of the well-known guaracha El Mentiroso ("The Liar"). Leyva was part of the Buena Vista Social Club and composed some of Cuba’s best known standards.

Leyva was born as Wilfredo Leiva Pascual in Morón. He won a bongo contest at the age of six and made his singing debut in 1932. He recorded over 25 albums since he signed his first contract with RCA Victor in 1950. Leyva sang with other Cuban artists such as Benny Moré, Bebo Valdés and Noro Morales and was a member of Estrellas de Areito and "Compay Segundo y Sus Muchachos."

Leyva took part in the 2004 film Música Cubana, which was marketed as a sequel to Buena Vista Social Club.

Leyva died of a heart attack, on March 22, 2006. He was 88 years old.

Glavat Lighthouse

Glavat Island (Croatia), resembling a giant ship made of rocks if seen from afar, is in fact a warning beacon for seafarers. It's remarkable lighthouse was built in 1884.

Delivery of groceries to the lighthouse Glavat

 

Vintage IDF Beret

These photos were sent to me by Simon from Australia, an IDF beret from his hat collection.

It may not be the best time to showcase Israeli military berets, but the beret comes with a story, much to do with "another occupation" of Palestine.

The beret was brought back by a British soldier in the King's Own Scottish Borderers regiment when he visited Israel in the 1950s, after his initial tour of duty in Palestine from 1945 - 1948. 

The Linda Lindas

The Linda Lindas are a quartet made up of Mila, 10, Eloise, 13, Lucia, 14, and Bela, 16, who describe themselves as embodying the spirit of original punk, power pop and new wave through today's ears, eyes and minds. Already they've played with Best Coast, Money Mark and L.A. punk legend Alice Bag.

They describe themselves on social media as “Half Asian / Half Latinx. Sisters, cousins and friends who play music together because it's fun!!”

Anton Kikaš

In Croatia he is a national hero, a patriot during the Yugoislav wars of the 1990's, worth exchanging for the highest-ranking Yugoslav general, a man feted on street corners, hounded by the media and honored by the president.

In Canada, Anton Kikas is largely unknown save for his sudden notoriety as a gunrunner; he was arrested at Zagreb`s airport in 1991 with a chartered Ugandan Airlines Boeing 707 and 18 tons of arms.

Kikaš, a Croatian Canadian, makes no attempt to deny that he was smuggling arms to support the war effort of breakaway Croatia.

He long has been active in Canada`s expatriate Croatian community. He as president of the Croatian-Canadian Home Foundation and the Canadian-Croatian Business and Professional Association. Before his arrest, he also was involved in a fund-raising effort to ship medical equipment to Croatia.

An accomplished poet and award-winning songwriter, Kikas said he wrote 25 songs in prison. ''They were different, in that they expressed the reflections of my soul as it felt within those four walls. . . . At first, I was afraid to write what my soul was whispering to me.''

Matejuška

 

Fishermen from Matejuška; for centuries a port for small boats owned by fishermen of Split. The residents of Veli Varoš set sail from there out to the sea to feed their families. Even today there are dozens of boats tied up there, their nets drying, bait being prepared, with a monument dedicated to fishermen biding them farewell as they sail out to sea.

The Best-Selling Choi Tashi Thermo Berets

When I first offered the Choi Tashi Thermo Berets, I couldn't have imagined these would turn out to be my best selling berets ever. Only 3 days after the second batch arrived in April, all sold out.

Today the new stock arrived!

Ultralight, super comfortable berets (at 50 grams!), offering great insulation, making these berets perfect for both summer and cool weather wear.

Measuring approximately 26cm in diameter these berets are fitted with a size adjustable drawstring, guaranteeing a comfortable fit for any size.

Gift-box packed, these berets are available in black and khaki @ only $42.50!

Cres, Croatia

Cres is a Croatian town located on the island of Cres which can be found directly off the Istrian Peninsula and in the Kvarner Gulf. The town has 2,879 inhabitants.

Cres has been inhabited since the Paleolithic time period. Its name predates classical antiquity and is derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)quer- ("cliff").

The island has several villages, all of them connected by a road that runs down the middle of the island. Photos taken in Beli, an acropolis type of village located on 130-meter high hill in the north of Cres where previously a prehistoric hill-fort stood.

Dentex Dentex Boinaex

The common dentex (Dentex dentex) is a species of fish in the family Sparidae. Adult dentex can reach a length of one metre (3 ft), and weight up to 16 kg (35 lb).

Dentex is an active predator, feeding on other fish, mollusca and cephalopods. It is solitary for most of the year, but during reproduction it lives in groups for some weeks: fully-grown dentex stay together just two to three weeks during spring in the warmer water near the surface.

The Dentex Dentex Boinaex is an almost extinct relation, recognizable by the beret (boina-) shaped forehead.

French Monkey

 

Walter Nigg

Walter Nigg (1903 - 1988) was a Swiss Reformed theologian.

In his books, Nigg portrayed many well-known and forgotten figures - saints, thinkers, artists and heretics - from the history of Christianity in a subtle way.

Nigg was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1949 by the Theological Faculty of the University of Marburg.

Francisco Sionil José

He is one of the most important authors in the Philippines: Francisco Sionil José. Even at the age of ninety-five, he repeatedly takes up current events in his texts and attacks those in power.

What the secret of his long life is and what the beret is all about - these two questions were asked more and more of Francisco Sionil José when he celebrated his birthday. The Filipino author's answer was: "Very simple: The good die early, and the hat protects me from pneumonia."

José found his way to literature, as he likes to tell again and again, thanks to the books in the Catholic lending library and the only streetlamp in the village

He experienced first-hand conflicts between large landowners and farm workers, the overpowering influence of the Catholic Church and the importance of their own culture. Violence was always omnipresent: exercised by remaining Spanish hacienderos, US-Americans as new colonial rulers and Filipino upstarts. In addition, he experienced violence during the Second World War when Japan occupied the country: At that time, José commuted between Manila and his hometown, the small village of Rosales in the Pangasinan province, and supplied his relatives in the capital with rice.

In 1946 he began to study literature in Manila, which was severely damaged by the Second World War - after Warsaw, Manila was the most destroyed capital. In February 1945 alone, over 100,000 people, mostly civilians, had died. Since then, he has accompanied, commented, and processed current events as a journalist and writer.

Les vacances d'Irina

Les vacances d'Irina is a Romanian brand that pays homage to the art of holidaying around the Mediterranean as it once was in the Fifties and Sixties...

“It started from a basket found in a flea market and slowly grew, unhurried, like lingering Summers”.

Their “French Alpine Beret” is made of 100% pure new wool, dyed a deep shade of navy blue, and woven by the century old Lanificio Paoletti mill, in Veneto, Italy.

A pretty steep price at 3 times that of the originalChasseur Alpin.

Stockholm

 In Stockholm:

Red berets on the street during Stockholm Fashion Week.

Dieter Gantz

Dieter Gantz (1932 -2018) was a German painter, graphic artist, and professor.

Gantz studied painting until 1957 at the Berlin University of Fine and Applied Arts, where his teachers included Kurt Robbel, Bert Heller, Arno Mohr and Toni Mau. This was followed by studies at the Berlin University of the Arts with Rudolf Bednarczik until 1961.

After a freelance phase, he was appointed as a university professor at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art in 1980. In 1988 he was appointed professor, and from 1991 he held a full professorship at this art college.

The Omnipresence of Berets in 1956

This 1956 photo of the audience during a folkloric evening in the Open Air Theater De Goffert in Nijmegen, shows how prominent the presence of berets was in those days in the Netherlands.

Journalist Wim Broos is shown 2^nd row left.

Nölleke Hendriks

Dutch farmer, inventor, handyman Nölleke Hendriks featured in the local historical magazine Rond de Grenssteen in 2001.

The tractor was Nölleke's favorite child. It was not about plowing, harrowing and cultivating the land, but a means to experiment with his own inventions.

Never was Nölleke without a cigarette and his beret. He built his first workshop on his property, with a shaft that ran right through the shack, powered outside by an old army motorbike.

The war was an interesting time for a child like Nölleke. One time he found a revolver which he used to shoot chestnuts from the tree, before trading it for a (much more useful) dynamo.

Lionel Tuaz

Lionel Tuaz is a professional musician from Savoy.

Always in the good company of his Tarte Alpin, he plays accordeon on the ski fields, in the auberges and while taking people out for walks in the mountains. 

Faithful followers of The Beret Project will recognize him as the man behind gnôle and raclette, a few days ago...

Arthur Tausch

Arthur Tausch was a German painter and sculptor (1898–1987).

Tausch was a member of the ‘German School’. This is a mixed media piece of a cigarette smoking lady on paper.

Hermanus Spelbos

"Vive la imagination"

Painter Hermanus Spelbos (1955 - 2017) was co-founder of Poetic Realism. His paintings bear witness to a small world, where a silent longing for a bygone time can be felt. In doing so, the painter seeks the child in the human being, as if in this way he wishes to provide the comforting feeling of paradise.

"Painter to be"

This personal view of things gives inspiration to the work and there is also a fragile, naïve, still poetry to be discovered. The viewer looks along with some melancholic recognition to a past of dreams, illusions and fantasies.