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Aberet (UK:/ˈbɛreɪ/BERR-ay,[1]US:/bəˈreɪ/bə-RAY;[2]French:béret[beʁɛ];Basque:txapel[t͡ʃa.pel];Spanish:boina[ˈbojna]) is a soft, round, flat-crownedcap made of hand-knittedwool, crocheted cotton, woolfelt,[3] oracrylic fibre.
Mass production of berets began in the 19th century specifically in theBasque Country, where they were already common headwear among theindigenous population, before spreading toSouthern France and thenorth of Spain; as such, the beret remains associated with these countries. Berets are worn as part of the uniform of many military and police units worldwide, as well as by other organizations.[4]
Archaeology andart history indicate that headwear similar to the modern beret has been worn since theBronze Age acrossNorthern Europe and as far south as ancientCrete andItaly, where it was worn by theMinoans,Etruscans andRomans. Such headgear has been popular among the nobility and artists across Europe throughout modern history.[3]
The 17th century Dutch artistRembrandt was well known for wearing a baret and may have inspired the baret's association with artists.
The Basque-style beret was the traditional headwear ofAragonese andNavarrian shepherds from theAnsó andRoncal valleys of thePyrenees,[5] a mountain range that dividessouthern France from northern Spain. The commercial production of Basque-style berets began in the 17th century aroundOloron-Sainte-Marie in theBéarn province of southern France. Originally a local craft, beret-making became industrialised in the 19th century. The first factory, Beatex-Laulhere, claims production records dating back to 1810. By the 1920s, berets were associated with theworking classes in a part of France and Spain and by 1928 more than 20 French factories and some Spanish and Italian factories produced millions of berets.[3]
In Western fashion, men and women have worn the beret since the 1920s as sportswear and later as a fashion statement.
Military berets were first adopted by the FrenchChasseurs Alpins in 1889.[6] After seeing these during theFirst World War, British GeneralHugh Elles proposed the beret for use by the newly formedRoyal Tank Regiment, which needed headgear that would stay on while climbing in and out of the small hatches of tanks. They were approved for use byKing George V in 1924.[7] Another possible origin of the RTR beret is that it was suggested toAlec Gatehouse byEric Dorman-Smith. While the two officers were serving atSandhurst in 1924, Gatehouse, who had transferred to the Royal Tank Corps, had been given the task of designing a practical headgear for the new corps. Dorman-Smith had toured Spain, including the Basque region, with his friendErnest Hemingway during the past few years, and had acquired a black Basque beret during his travels.
The specifications were that it had to protect men's hair from the oil in a tank but not take up space in the cramped interior, and he led Gatehouse straight to his room. Hanging on the wall was his Basque beret from Pamplona. He tossed it across, and Gatehouse gingerly tried it on. The beret design was adopted...[8]
The black RTR beret was made famous byField Marshal Montgomery in theSecond World War.[3]
The beret fits snugly around the head, and can be "shaped" in a variety of ways – in theAmericas it is commonly worn pushed to one side. InCentral andSouth America, local custom usually prescribes the manner of wearing the beret; there is no universal rule and older gentlemen usually wear it squared on the head, jutting forward. It can be worn by both men and women.
Military uniform berets feature a headband or sweatband attached to the wool, made either from leather, silk or cotton ribbon, sometimes with adrawstring allowing the wearer to tighten the cap. The drawstrings are, according to custom, either tied and cut off or tucked in or else left to dangle. The beret is often adorned with acap badge, either in cloth or metal. Some berets have a piece ofbuckram or other stiffener in the position where the badge is intended to be worn.
Berets are not usually lined, but many are partially lined with silk or satin. In military berets, the headband is worn on the outside; military berets often have external sweatbands of leather,pleather or ribbon. The traditional beret (also worn by selected military units, such as theBelgianChasseurs Ardennais or the FrenchChasseurs Alpins), usually has the "sweatband" folded inwardly. In such a case, these berets have only an additional inch or so of the same woollen material designed to be folded inwardly.
Newer beret styles made ofPolar fleece are also popular.
Berets came to be popularised across Europe and other parts of the world as typicalBasque headgear, as reflected in their name in several languages (e.g.béret basque in French;Baskenmütze in German;Basco in Italian;Tascu/Birritta in Sicilian; orbaskeri in Finnish), while the Basques themselves use the wordstxapela orboneta. They are very popular and common in theBasque Country. The colours adopted for folk costumes varied by region and purpose: black and blue are worn more frequently than red and white, which are usually used at local festivities. The people ofAragon and theBasque country adopted red berets while the black beret became the common headgear of workers in both Spain and France.[3]
A big commemorative black beret is the usual trophy in sport orbertso competitions, including Basque rural sports, the Basque portions of theTour de France, and theVuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco. It may bear sewn ornamental references to the achievement or contest.
Theblack beret was once considered the national cap of France inAnglo-Saxon countries and is part of the stereotypical image of theOnion Johnny. It is no longer as widely worn as it once was, but it remains a strong sign of local identity in the southwest of France. When French people want to picture themselves as "the typical average Frenchman" in France or in a foreign country, they often use this stereotype from Anglo-Saxon countries.[note 1] Today, there are three manufacturers in France. Laulhère (who acquired the formerly oldest manufacturer, Blancq-Olibet, in February 2014[9]) has been making bérets since 1840. The beret still remains a strong symbol of the unique identity of southwestern France and is worn while celebrating traditional events.
In Spain, the beret is usually known as theboina, sometimes also asbilbaína[10] orbilba.[11] They were once common men's headwear across thenorth andcentral areas of the country. The first areas to wear it were theBasque Country,Navarre,Aragon andCastile, but its use spread over rest of Spain during the 19th century.[12]
In the 20th century, the beret became part of a commonstereotype of rural people, often with negative connotations of boorishness and uncouthness, found in expressions such as "paleto de boina a rosca" ("a hick wearing a screwed-on beret"), which has greatly reduced the popularity of the beret in Spain.[13][14][15][12]
There are several traditional Scottish variants of the beret, notably theScottish bonnet orBluebonnet[16] (originallybonaid in Gaelic), whose ribbon cockade and feathers identify the wearer's clan and rank. Other Scottish types include thetam-o'-shanter (named after aRobert Burns' character in one of his poems) and the stripedKilmarnock cap, both of which feature a largepompom in the centre.[3]
The beret's practicality has long made it an item of military, police and other uniform clothing.
Among a few well-known historic examples are the Scottish soldiers, who wore the blue bonnet in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Volontaires Cantabres, a French force raised in the Basque country in the 1740s to the 1760s, who also wore a blue beret, and the Carlist rebels, with their red berets, in 1830s Spain.
The FrenchChasseurs alpins, a corps of mountain troops created in 1888, were the first permanently established military force to wear the military beret as a standard headgear. As retained until the present day the chasseur beret is a large and somewhat floppy headdress.[17] TheCommandos de Chasse worn an unusual bi-colored beret.[18]
In the 20th century, royal approval was given for theRoyal Tank Corps to adopt the black beret in 1924,[19] with the11th Hussars adopting a brown beret in 1928.[19] InWorld War II, theRoyal Dragoons adopted the grey beret at the end of 1939, with other mechanised units of theBritish Army, such as theRoyal Armoured Corps and theGuards Armoured Division, adopting the black beret in 1941.[19] British officerBernard Montgomery ("Monty") took to wearing a black beret given to him by the driver of his command vehicle in 1942, and it became his trademark.[20]
Themaroon beret (not to be confused with thered beret), was officially introduced in July 1942 at the direction of Major-GeneralFrederick Browning, commander of the British1st Airborne Division, and soon became an international symbol of airborne forces.[19] In the 1950s the U.S. Army's newly conceivedSpecial Forces units began to wear a green beret as headgear, following the custom of theBritish Royal Marines, which was officially adopted in 1961 with such units becoming known as the "Green Berets", and additional specialized forces in the Army, U.S. Air Force and other services also adopted berets as distinctive headgear.[citation needed]
The beret is part of the long-standing stereotype of theintellectual,film director,artist, "hipster", poet,bohemian andbeatnik. The painterRembrandt and the composerRichard Wagner, among others, wore berets.[21] In the United States and Britain, the middle of the 20th century saw an explosion of berets in women's fashion. In the latter part of the 20th century, the beret was adopted by the Chinese both as a fashion statement and for its political undertones. Berets were also worn bybebop andjazz musicians likeDizzy Gillespie,Gene Krupa,Wardell Gray andThelonious Monk.
Guerrillero Heroico, an iconic photograph of theArgentine revolutionaryChe Guevara, shows him wearing a black beret with a brass star.
In the 1960s several activist groups adopted the black beret. These include theProvisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), theETA (who wore black berets over hoods in public appearances), theBlack Panther Party of the United States, formed in 1966,[22][23] and the "Black Beret Cadre" (a similarBlack Power organisation inBermuda).[24] In addition, theBrown Berets were aChicano organisation formed in 1967.
The Young Lords Party, a Latino revolutionary organisation in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, also wore berets, as did theGuardian Angels unarmed anti-crime citizen patrol units originated byCurtis Sliwa inNew York City in the 1970s to patrol the streets and subways to discourage crime (red berets and matching shirts).
Adherents of theRastafari movement often wear a very large knitted or crocheted black beret with red, gold and green circles atop theirdreadlocks. The style is often erroneously called akufi, after the skullcap known askufune. They consider the beret and dreadlocks to be symbols of the biblical covenant of God with his chosen people, the "black Israelites".[3] This style of hat is also known as aRastacap.
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