A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre.
Source: visor hats
Mass production of berets began in the 19th century France and Spain, and the beret remains connected with these countries. Berets are worn within the uniform of several military and police units worldwide, and also by other organizations.
History
Archaeology and art history indicate that headgear like the modern beret offers been worn because the Bronze Age across Northern Europe and as far south as ancient Crete and Italy, where it had been worn by the Minoans, Etruscans and Romans. Such headgear offers been popular amonst the nobility and artists across Europe throughout modern history.
The Basque-style beret was the original headgear of Aragonese and Navarrian shepherds from the Ansó and Roncal valleys of the Pyrenees, a mountain range that divides Southern France from northern Spain. The commercial production of Basque-style berets began in the 17th century in the Oloron-Sainte-Marie area of Southern France. Originally an area craft, beret-making became industrialised in the 19th century. The first factory, Beatex-Laulhere, claims production records dating back again to 1810. By the 1920s, berets were linked to the working classes in an integral part of France and Spain and by 1928 a lot more than 20 French factories plus some Spanish and Italian factories produced an incredible number of berets.
In Western fashion, women and men possess worn the beret because the 1920s as sportswear and later as a fashion statement.
Military berets were 1st adopted by the French Chasseurs Alpins in 1889. After viewing these through the First World War, British General Hugh Elles proposed the beret for use by the newly formed Royal Tank Regiment, which needed headgear that could stick to while climbing in and from the small hatches of tanks. These were approved for make use of by King George V in 1924. Another possible origin of the RTR beret is that it had been suggested to Alec Gatehouse by Eric Dorman-Smith. As the two officers had been serving at Sandhurst in 1924, Gatehouse, who had used in the Royal Tank Corps, had received the duty of designing a practical headgear for the brand new corps. Dorman-Smith had toured Spain, like the Basque region, along with his friend Ernest Hemingway in the past couple of years, and had acquired a black Basque beret during his travels.
The specifications were that it had to safeguard men's hair from the oil in a tank however, not take up space in the cramped interior, and he led Gatehouse right 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...
The black RTR beret was made famous by Field Marshal Montgomery in the next World War.
Wear
The beret fits snugly around the top, and may be "shaped" in many ways - in the Americas it really is commonly worn pushed to 1 side. In Central and SOUTH USA, local custom usually prescribes the way in which of wearing the beret; there is absolutely no universal rule and older gentlemen usually use it squared on the top, jutting forward. It could be worn by men and women.
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