Vlada Avornic

A colourful ending of the year with Vlada Avornic from Bucharest. 

Vlada is an ambitious model/influencer and boinera. 

Khalid Abdel-Hadi

Jordanian - Palestinian, Khalid Abdel-Hadi is an artist, curator, and activist, and founder of My Kali Magazine, a conceptual, queer/feminist/intersectional webzine launched in 2007.

Khalid has graduated from several regional and international programs including the Swedish Institute’s Young Leaders Visitors Program (2014), took part in the Human Rights Watch "No Longer Alone" campaign, was listed on Guardian’s LGBT Change Makers of 2017, and has been featured by many artists, journalists and documentaries internationally.

Currently, Khalid is the Editor-in-Chief and the Creative Director of My Kali, and is working to raise awareness and visibility towards the issues and victories of the regional queer and feminist community.

Postcards

 

Vision Street Wear

Vision Street Wear is an American apparel company focused on BMX and skateboarding. 

Started in 1976 by Brad Dorfman, the company sponsored early skateboarding greats such as Mark 'Gator' Rogowski and Mark Gonzales.

Although the company is mostly known for its skateboards, in the 1980’s it brought out a range of berets.

These days the Vision Street berets cost small fortunes on collector’s sites and auctions. 

Noel Robinson

Noel Robinson called himself a vagabond, which was not strictly accurate because he did live part time in his own home — an off-the-grid shack in the woods fashioned from an old meat cooler. He divided the rest between a similarly rustic shack his father built in Itasca County, MN, temporary lodging and long bike and canoe trips.

Robinson was an activist, beekeeper and much-admired tenor who taught voice lessons at the University of Minnesota. He wrote long letters and never emailed. Friends and family described him as charismatic and cheerful.

Robinson died Aug. 14, 2022 while on a four-day bike ride with friends. After a night of conversation, he crawled into his tent "and went to sleep for the last time," friends said. He was 85.

Christmas 2023

And remember, if Santa failed to deliver a new beret this Christmas, you can get the best at South Pacific Berets yourself!

X-mas 2023

 Merry Christmas Boineros & Boineras!

Bertil Vallien (3)

Bertil Vallien has appeared on The Beret Project before, most impressively in November 2011. 

His beautiful work in glass more than justifies another post on Bertil. 

Bertil Vallien (1938–) was born in Sollentuna, just north of Stockholm. He and his six siblings grew up in a strictly religious and restricted family environment. But early on, Bertil discovered the joy of creating.

"I came from a rather uncultured environment, a working-class home, where you didn't have a clue what you were worth. There was no sparring partner, no one to measure up against, no one who valued what I did. Except they loved to watch when I drew horses."

Bertil Vallien met his great love Ulrica Hydman during his studies at Konstfack. They were married from 1963 until her death in 2018. She was a famous artist who mainly worked with glass and painting. 

Bertil and Ulrica never worked together but were each other's mainstays and best critics. The couple had two sons, one of whom runs the Vida art hall on Öland.

Bertil Vallien is still very much active as a creative artist. In Bertil's exhibition "Under ytan" (Under the Surface) at Spritmuseum in Stockholm 2018, black glass and darker motifs were at the center. Wrecked ships and desolate landscapes stood on pedestals in a dark room with a light source above it. The art objects were made in a coarse-cut black glass that suggested an archaeological excavation of a desolate civilization.

The discovery of the black glass was made by mistake. Bertil wanted to produce a slightly darker blue glass and therefore ordered two grams of extra cobalt during the glass melting. Instead, it became two thousand grams extra, and the molten glass mass looked like asphalt when it left the crucible.

"At first I thought it was completely ruined. Then I started working on it and thought it was amazing. It brought me completely different ideas than before."

Claude de Baissac

Claude Marie Marc Boucherville de Baissac, DSO and bar, CdeG, known by his codename David (1907 - 1974) was a Mauritian of French descent who was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.

De Baissac was the leader of an important SOE network called Scientist. He worked in the city of Bordeaux and southwestern France from July 1942 to August 1943, organizing and supplying the French Resistance with arms and gathering intelligence on blockade-running ships entering and leaving Bordeaux harbour. He flew back to England when his network was betrayed, but returned to action in Normandy from February to August 1944, carrying out sabotage missions against the Germans after the D-Day invasion of France by the allies. His elder sister Lise was also an SOE agent and worked with him.

Madeleine the Butcher

Not the most likely video to publish for an almost lifelong vegetarian, but it is hard to to like Madeleine's enthusiasm for her work.

Madeleine has worked from farm to farm for more than 35 years. Sausages, grattons or pâtés: she is in no way disgusted by her job. Video from 1978.

Shepherds

 Back to the beret's roots: shepherds!

Al Ruscio

Al Ruscio (1924 –2013) was an American character actor who appeared in numerous television shows and films.

In addition to television work, Ruscio had roles in several films including Any Which Way You Can (1980) with Clint Eastwood, Jagged Edge (1985) starring Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges, The Godfather Part III (1990), Guilty by Suspicion (1991) with Robert De Niro, Showgirls (1995) and The Phantom (1996).

Ruscio wrote a book, So Therefore …: A Practical Guide for Actors, which was published in 2012.

Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron (1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2016, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Theron came to international prominence in the 1990s by playing the leading lady in the Hollywood films The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999).

She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003), for which she won the Silver Bear and Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first South African to win an acting Oscar. She received another Academy Award nomination for playing a sexually abused woman seeking justice in the drama North Country (2005).

Since the early 2000s, Theron has ventured into film production with her company Denver and Delilah Productions. She has produced numerous films, in many of which she had a starring role, including The Burning Plain (2008), Dark Places (2015), and Long Shot (2019). Theron became an American citizen in 2007, while retaining her South African citizenship. She has been honoured with a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.