Jungle Berets

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.. Everything from the camp backdrop, the real life scale zebra and rhino props, the orienteering maps on the wall, scream Safari Camp dream.

And yes, berets too in the jungle of the London Fashion Week 2014.

Designboom

Designboom is a daily web magazine covering the fields of industrial design, architecture, and art internationally. Launched in 1999, the publication was the first web magazine to focus on these fields, and it features interviews and firsthand studio visits of renowned designers and architects, in addition to coverage of international design fairs and new projects. Newsletters are published daily.

The patriotic Frenchman's dreamcar: featuring clichés of french identity a beret-wheel, marinière-seat, eiffel tower radiator cap, mustache side mirrors and a luxurious finely crafted trunk

The online magazine was named one of the top 100 design influencers in the world by Time Magazine, as well as one of the top 'Les 100 qui comptent' ('People who count') by the French magazine Architectural Digest. Designboom runs several international design competitions each year, in partnership with large companies. In addition, Designboom hosts young designers 'marts' at a range of furniture and design fairs, an exhibition format that it introduced in 2005 at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City, and which has since become an industry standard.

The IT-beret handbag

Foire de Beret du Pays de Nay

Beret Fair 2012 in Nay, the Pyrenean town where former beret manufacturer Blancq-Olibet was based. 

La Fête Nationale

The official photo of French president François Hollande at the Champs-Élysées in Paris, for the celebration of  La Fête Nationale or, more  commonly Le quatorze juillet ("Bastille Day, in English speaking countries).
Doesn't he look good, with his large diameter beret!

The Basque Hotel

The time is the 1930s and the setting for The Basque Hotel is a western frontier town of a few thousand people, with one dubious distinction. Carson City, Nevada, is the smallest capital in the United States. Pete's world is circumscribed by Main Street - shops and stores, a pool hall, boarding-house hotels, and a capitol whose main contribution is as a place of liquid shade and precious green grass in blistering summers. By far the most important event of the day is when the steam whistle of the V & T sounds, signaling thee passage of the shortline railway on its journey from Virginia City to Reno, "that impossibly big town of 20,000 people 30 miles away." Pete's immigrant parents run the Basque Hotel, bed and meals, whiskey and wine in Prohibition time for sheepherders and town characters. Pete is indifferent to his heritage except for disquiet about his parents' ignorance of such American traditions as Christmas trees. The heroes that figure in the boy Pete's growing up consist of a motley collection as delightful as the reader will ever meet: Buckshot Dooney, the town drunk who "travels from trouble to trouble"; Hallelujah Bob, who pursues his demons with a shotgun when he has imbibed too much; Irish prospector Mickey McCluskey; Mizoo, the cowboy with a ten-gallon hat; Pansy Gifford, the handyman who always wears a suit with a flower in his lapel; and George Washington Lopez, who swamps out the local whorehouse a block away from the capitol. Pete, too prone to dreams, undergoes his rites of passage - cruelty and kindness, disillusionment, love and terror, pathos and hilarious adventure, and finally, a cautious understanding of his world.

Louis' Basque Corner, Reno, Nevada

Louis and Lorraine Erreguible opened Louis’ Basque Corner in 1967 as a testament to their Basque heritage. An emigrant from Mauleon, Basses Pyrenees, France, and a World War II veteran, Louis’ love of Basque cuisine and experience as a chef at local restaurants led to the renovation of the 1906-built Lincoln Hotel and the start of a Reno tradition. Today, owners Chris Shanks and Brian Elcano carry on Louis’ Basque tradition.

The Basque Hotels of the American West were homes-away-from-home for newly immigrated Basques from the Pyrenees Mountains. Normally located over restaurant and bars, the hotels provided a family-like atmosphere for the men who came downstairs to dine together each night at the restaurant’s expansive tables and share in hearty family-style meals. The fare was always simple but expertly prepared. Traditional dishes such as sweetbreads, oxtail, tongue and tripe can still be found on most Basque menus.

Louis’ Basque Corner continues this tradition with its family-style seating, traditional menu, and servers outfitted in authentic Basque costumes. The homemade food is expertly prepared, the picon punches flow freely, and the conversation is never lacking. 

More Basqueness in the USA

The Star Hotel in Elko, Nevada.

Basque Hotel Basque Restaurant Fresno, California

You don't have to be a shepherd to enjoy a traditional communal Basque shepherd's meal at Bakersfield's Noriega Hotel.

The Basque Hotel, 15 Romolo is located down a alley way near Broadway Street in San Francisco.

Basques in the US Old West

During the 1848-1855 gold rush, young Basque men from their homeland, Uruguay and Argentina, immigrated to California's promising gold fields. Those who struck it rich invested in sheep or cattle ranches and formed partnerships with other Basques. Some who didn't worked in the mining industry, including Utah's Bingham Canyon copper mines. Others turned to sheepherding. They avoided being "txamisuek jota" (struck by sagebrush), withstood the challenges of inequity and made a new life in a new land.

Basque shepherd Bertrand Borda arrives at Salt Lake City airport to begin his new job. June 1951

While raising sheep is an old-world Basque tradition, Pyrenees flocks were often small in number (less than 100) and kept close to the farm. Large-scale sheep production was another story.

El Basque Club de San Francisco

Basque sheepherders worked throughout California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Representing a minor percentage of western shepherds, an industrious Basque accepted sheep in lieu of wages and increased his own itinerant sheep band while running his employer's herd. By 1880, the Basques earned the "reputation as the finest sheepmen in the American West."

Basque sheep herders in Idaho in 1938

Sheepherding is a lonesome profession filled with unrelenting hours, years-long nomadic transhumance (a "livestock management" technique in which animals travel hundreds of trailing miles during seasonal grazing cycles), mental deprivation and social isolation.

Basque couple, Boise, Idaho

Alone with his sheep, monthly food drops and occasional visits, the loyal dog was often his only companion. The iconic sheepwagon defined his workplace and home on the range.

Route US50 Car-wash

As sheepherders — and new Basque immigrants — arrived in Utah, Basque hotels sprung up. These establishments offered a familiar sense of community with Basque culture, conversation, music and cuisine.

Soon enough, many a solitary shepherd married his Basque bride. The sheepwagon, a temporary honeymoon suite, became home and hearth to the dedicated Basque wife who worked alongside her husband and helped increase his holdings.

Lloyd L. Root (1919 - 2013)

San Francisco native and Navy pilot Lloyd L. Root first and foremost always said "I've had a good life." And he did, right up until the last day of his final flight-at least on this plane-which was October 9, 2013. Born on December 26, 1919, Lloyd was raised in North Beach. Those were the days when there were so few automobiles that Basque boys (like Lloyd) and his assorted Italian, French, Mexican, Irish, Serbian and Greek neighbors and pals could play touch tackle football and "kick the can" in the middle of the streets. Then go climb the steep hills above Broadway to play "king of the mountain" on their way home for dinner.

UČA Berets

It is with intense pleasure that I announce the arrival of the very first lot of Serbian made berets, a new addition to the stock of South Pacific Berets (see here: http://southpacificberets.com/uča-serbia.php). 

The Yugoslav hat manufacturer UČA was founded in the Serbian city of Vršac in 1924 and has made berets from it's very beginning. The Basque beret became especially popular in Bosnia and the Sandzjak region in Marshall Titio's communist Yugoslavia; it proved to be a very acceptable headgear for Muslims who wanted to keep their heads covered, but not go against the political tide of the time.

The factory is named Uča after Žarko Zrenjanin "Uča". Uča was the friendly nickname for the teacher Zarko Zrenjanin who became a famous partisan during the war and who, to this day, is honoured in many ways; a beret factory is one, the city of Zrenjanin is another. Uča was one of the leaders of the Vojvodinian Communists and Partisans. His glory comes from his actions during the battles on the rivers Neretva and Sutjeska. He was imprisoned and tortured by the Nazis for months and killed while trying to escape.

UČA specializes in the production of military berets. These were of such exceptional quality that even NATO member countries like the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom chose UČA berets for their armed forces. Local companies in the respective countries would sew in a lining and label, that way able to legally state the berets were made in that country. 

Until the economic sanctions against Serbia, yearly beret sales to foreign buyers ranged between 300 - 400 thousand pieces. UČA privatised in 2005 and changed it's name to UČA International. The complete production is done in-house by UČA International; knitting, linking, fulling, dyeing, shaping and confectioning under supervision of the CIS Textile Institute of Belgrade. 

 At South Pacific Berets we now stock two models, both in a light density wool, perfectly suited for summer and warmer climates:
Standard Basque Beret without headband, lined, but without cabilliou (the little wick at the centre of the beret
Basque Beret with a vinyl rimmed (sized) headband and fitted with lining and two air-vents and cabilliou.
Berets of exceptional value for money!

Course Landaise, or 'Cow Dancing'

Another post with Jean Barrère (see yesterday's post on wood pigeon hunting), animal related too, but this time no killing is involved: it's dancing with cows!

Jean demonstrates how to feint a jump with one foot to one side, bring it back and turn your back against the cow.

Course Landaise is a humane form of Bull fighting that has major differences to the not so nice Spanish, Portuguese and other French variants.

A special bike with cow horns, to give an inkling of idea of what it feels like to be in front of an attacking cow. Like a cow, Jean can turn the wheel at the very last moment

Wild cows live in herds with a strong hierarchy. The bulls defy each other to define who the leader bull is. They all define themselves against the other members of the herd, so they are born with an instinct to define a territory and protect it. The female cows have a similar behaviour, but act a bit differently. Her instinct is more based on the protection of her babies, so she will not give up. She will continue attacking relentlessly - while a male bull will rather try to go away, admit he is beaten. This is the reason to use the cows instead of the bulls.

A cow that enters an arena will attack instantly. The space is too small for her to accept anybody else. 

Coffee...? What on earth does coffee have to do with berets? Fair question, but when based in the Coffee Capital of the World, being ardent lovers of good, fresh ground - fresh brewed coffee ourselves, there is a lot of sense in the combination. 

Like all material pleasures on this planet, it all comes down to quality. You visited this web site to find quality (in berets) and there is similar quality to be found in coffee. We're not talking Fast Food-all the coffee you can drink outlets, big multinational coffee roasters or the aluminium wasting Nespresso syrup-cups; we're talking the daily roasted, fresh ground, hand-selected, artisan coffees of small businesses of which there happen to be a whole lot in Wellington, NZ (and the trend is growing, world-wide).

One thing to have your 'shot' at a beautiful location, relaxing in the sun at the waterfront or in a dim lit lounge with Tom Waits on the background, but many people's reality is that if often doesn't work like that. And coffees-on-the-go have some definite disadvantages. Who hasn't struggled with a too broad insulated cup that didn't fit your car's standard cup holder; hasn't burnt her lips on the boiling hot rim of a metal cup, cursed the hot liquid dripping from between the cup and the lid on his lap while driving..?
That's where South Pacific Berets' ABC Coffee Cups come in. The first and only insulated coffee cups I ever found (believe me, I tried a good number) that don't affect the taste of coffee in any way, are extremely well insulated (hot on the inside - cool on the outside), fit perfectly well in any standard car's cup holder, don't leak or drip and are totally fashionable for beret wearers of any kind!

Cost: $ 18.40. Buy one (or more) in combination with any beret and pay no additional postage. 

Palombière

Palombière is a form of hunting, specifically hunting wood pigeons, in the southwest of France. The wood pigeons are caught on their migratory way from northern Europe to the Iberian Peninsula. The annual “harvest” is about 800,000 animals.

It is a traditional form of hunting, mostly by men who eat and drink together in their dugouts. It has a great social importance in the country regions where this form of hunting is exercised. The pigeons are shot from there, but also lured and trapped with nets  by using a “leader” (ie, a captivated wood pigeon). The captive birds are processed into traditional French cuisine such as Salmis de Palombes.

Not a post you expect to be published by a practically life-long vegetarian, but the many berets worn by the hunters justify a post on The Beret Project.

Jean Barrère (on all the pictures shown here) was 'Champion de France 2009' and 'Champion du Monde 2011'.

What's more, you may well recognize Jean Barrère as the model on the cover of The Inspector Cluzo's CD Gasconna Rocks!

Le Béret Gascon

Le Béret Gascon specialises in troubleshooting computer-related problems, maintenance, training, support and hardware and peripherals installation. We cover everywhere in Trie sur Baïse (65) and the surrounding area, the southern Gers and the northern Hautes-Pyrénées. 

"Whether it be at your office, at home (more likely for those of you in the English-speaking community) or remotely using secure remote connection software, our expertise covers more frequently PC but also Mac, on desktop computer, laptop or tablet, and we offer you a large variety of services."

Perry Taylor, with Beret

Caroline and Perry Taylor moved to the town of Puydarrieux, in the Midi-Pyrénées,  south west France for the “culture, gastronomy and wide open spaces”. This mountainous area with its medieval towns and villages, unhurried way of life and a love for tradition has also proved the perfect source of inspiration for artist Perry. His drawings reflect the heritage and daily life of the residents, the look and feel of an area that embraces its past and its present – all with his unique sense of affectionate humour.

Perry spent 15 years in London, working in graphic design and advertising, designing everything from theatre posters to record covers, wine labels and soap packaging. He moved on to art directing for ad agencies in Amsterdam for 12 years where he met Dutch girl, Caroline and they decided that “it was time for a change”. France was Perry’s first choice as he was “hooked after his first trip on a train from Paris to Narbonne at the age of 14, with a school chum. Encountering two twenty-something, scantily-clad French girls and their garlic-oozing parents in acouchette, he was sold”. 

They decided on the Hautes-Pyrénées/Gers region because of the “rolling landscape, reminiscent of the Cotswolds and Tuscany. The weather is mild and the air is clean. The Gascon people are really friendly. We are close to the Pyrénéan Mountains, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Spain. We love the Basque country and the unspoilt nature all around us. With no motorways, or industry nearby, it is a forgotten corner that many pass without stopping”.

His cartoon drawings perfectly capture the people he sees, the café life style, the chickens and ducks waddling across the road. Perry admits that he loves to draw “farmers’ wives with their house coats, calf stockings and wellies… I love getting their stance and force into a drawing as they garden and pluck. The duck with the big eyes and a beret has become a bit of a trademark and I love drawing human traits and expressions in them”.

Oliver Law

Oliver Law, a 33-years-old  African American from Texas, became the first black commander of an American army. On June 12, 1937 Law was selected by a committee of three white officers to lead this integrated army.

Law’s not mentioned in school textbooks or social studies classes, and has not found a place in most college texts or history courses. But Law made his mark on world history in June 1937. He was among 90 African Americans who went  to help the Spanish Republic during its Civil War.

In Spain life was different for African Americans. “I can rise according to my worth, not my color,” Law said. After the Lincoln Brigade’s first battle at Jarama, Law’s courage was rewarded with a promotion to lieutenant. Next he was put in charge of a machine-gun company. Then Lincoln Brigade Commander Marty Hourihan recommended him for officers’ school.

A committee of three white Brigade officers voted to make Law a captain and their brigade commander. Steve Nelson, who had worked with him in Chicago, told why they picked Law: “He had the most experience and was best suited for the job.” Further, he was “the most acquainted with military procedures on the staff at the moment . . . he was well liked by his men . . . .”

“When soldiers were asked who might become an officer—ours was a very democratic army—his name always came up. It was spoken of him that he was calm under fire, dignified, respectful of his men and always given to thoughtful consideration of initiatives and military missions.”

Law died at the Battle of Brunete on July 9, 1937.