MEMORIES:

The beret is a cap with a message. It can say “tortured artist.” It can say “Yes, I’m from Paris.” It can say “I’m a beatnik. Look at my goatee.” 

 

The beret’s beginnings were far more utilitarian. This soft, round hat dates back to ancient Greece, and is one of the oldest head covering designs in the world, originally made of mattered animal fur or wool. Berets come in two styles. The basque features a stand-up band often seen on military berets. The modelaine is a bandless style more common to civilians. These also features a “tail,” the tab at the center that prevents a hole from forming. This style is also called a tam.

 

During the 1940’s, berets were popular with little girls, as millinery elastic was rationed during the war years. The beret became hip when jazz musicians like trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie adopted the black beret and black sunglasses, starting the bebop style, and influencing the Beat Generation and their existential angst. The 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde featured Faye Dunaway in a chic European beret for the ethnic inspired looks of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. In the ‘80’s, Madonna wore a floppy, bowed beret in her video for the hit “Borderline.”

 

Kangol, a company that manufactured wool berets during WWII, became more popular as berets became hip. They were popular in the ‘50’s for both men’s and women’s hat fashions, and actor Samuel L. Jackson sported Kangols in the ‘90’s, making the beret cool all over again.