History and evolution of the béret

Lily Collins' red beret in Emily in Paris rekindled a passion for French headwear in pop culture. It has also been frequently mentioned on the French maisons catwalks of Chanel and Dior, and is nowadays making a huge comeback. Considered as the French national hat until recently, it is one of the most popular and recognizable hats in the world that cyclically resurfaces in fashion able to add a brisk and artsy accent to a look that never goes out of style.

In winter its canonical composition in 100% wool makes it ideal for layering up without giving up being noticed. Béret is often connected to a stereotypical imagery of a Paris steeped in art and fashion, but also unexpectedly common in the French countryside among farmers, especially male. The unusual duplicity of the béret has historical roots, starting back in 400 AD with the first spread of the headgear. The iconic hat is much more than a fashion statement, and was in the past a symbol of political and national identity.

Historical notes

Béret never goes out of fashion because it has a complex history: it was born out of necessity in northern Europe and spreaded more precisely in the countryside of the Basque Country between France and Spain, to then be produced industrially between the fourteenth and fifteenth century. In France it is considered the typical farmers’ headdress of the Basque Country, and is thus identified as  “béret basque”. Its simple structure and composition in pressed wool (or felt) make it easy to make, economical and water resistant. For these qualities it was frequently adopted by those who worked outdoors such as farmers, workers and the lower classes but especially among 1700’s artists, maybe influenced by the many paintings of French artists such as Vermeer and Rembrandt who were used to self-portrait themselves with the hat on. In honor of the art masters, the béret became a symbol of tradition and artistic identification and was worn by actresses and artists of the early 20th century such as Edìt Piaf, Marlene Dietrich, Hemingway and Picasso. Later, around 1960s and 1970s was for this adopted by members of the innovative French artistic movement the Nouvelle Vague. But were military groups the first to use béret as an identifying symbol, halfway between the expression of nationalism and the typical functionality of technical clothing, and chose different colors to identify themselves.

The colors of the béret

Although color is now a purely aesthetic factor, in the past and especially during military conflicts, the color of the béret indicated its political faction. Today coloured bérets are a political declaration of intents anymore, but it’s funny to know how the red béret that was deliciously worn by Lily Collins in Emily in Paris was chosen back in the days by the Spanish anti-Catholic rebels at the end of '800 and is today worn by the Indonesian Special Forces. The blue version of the béret was worn by the soldiers of the Scottish army at the end of the 700s and by the French Alpini in the First World War, US Special Forces Green Berets chose a green béret to identify themselves and so did British special forces with a black one. A black béret was also worn by revolutionary Cuban leader Ernesto Che Guevara. But who truly popularized the black béret was the Black Panthers, a revolutionary organization of the '60s that fought like a real army for the rights of African Americans being ancestors of our BLM times. To honour them and their achievements Beyoncè wore a black béret during the Superbowl halftime-show in February 2016, reinforcing her afro-american roots and values and identifying as a powerful socially involved icon in the right equality debate.

In contemporary fashion

Influenced by the elegant French style of the early 20th century, movie divas such as Audrey Hepbrun, Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve brought béret to Hollywood. But Fane Dunaway was the one who internationally christened it as an iconic accessory, representative of a powerful femininity lover of all things dangerous, when playing Bonnie in the iconic “Bonnie and Clyde” movie. The hat was symbol of a decade rich of fashion and politics bonds, and also appears in The Queen’s Gambit, the '60s reverent hyper-successful Netflix series, where Anna Taylor Joy wears it in the last episode. Madonna wore a red béret red in one of her first shoots of the 1980s for the promotion of the Strike a Pose album, and gave birth to a real underground passion for the French hat. In the '90s it was the favorite accessory of Clueless’s protagonist and to current date there are many showbiz figures who love it. From catwalk divas such as Kendall Jenner to female top performers such as Beyoncè, Rihanna and Jlo, especially Cardi B (who is a huge fan of French fashion), lots of celebs chose a béret to add a playful accent to their red carpet look. This year we saw it coming back in shops thanks to Kangol and worn by Kim Kardashian for Kim Jones’s first Dior Men collection, resembling the perfect version of an American in Paris. Are we sure béret’s fame it’s all Emily’s fault?