Lo berret qu’ei bearnés !
The beret is a bonnet that originated in Béarn, a region in the heart of Gascony in the Pyrenees . The word béret comes from the Béarnese name “berret”. And if the etymology doesn’t convince you, here’s a Béarnese saying for you: “Lo berret qu’ei bearnés!”, meaning “the beret is Béarnais”.
While it’s difficult to date the birth of the beret, we do know that it was worn in the Pyrenees as far back as the Middle Ages. On the portal of the church of Notre-Dame de Belloq, there is a sculpture dating from 1280 depicting a Pilgrim, on his way to Santiago de Compostela, wearing a beret.
A shepherd’s hat that became a symbol of the French
Originally, the Béarnais beret was not dyed, so it was the natural color of wool, ecru or brownish. Later, each Pyrenean valley adopted its own color, for example blue in Luchon or red in the Ossau valley. It was mainly mountain guides and shepherds who wore the beret to protect them from the cold and rain, thanks to its composition: the real beret is made from 100% Merino wool. The wool is knitted and then felted. The length of time the wool is felted determines its density and therefore its permeability.
The 19th century saw the birth of beret factories, including Maison Laulhère, founded in 1838 at the foot of the French Pyrenees by Lucien Laulhère. The berets offered by Bring France Home are made by Laulhère, the historic manufacturer still in business today.
With the development of thermal baths in the Pyrenees, followed by vacations in the Basque country launched by Napoleon III and Eugénie (during the Second Empire, the imperial couple stayed in Biarritz 13 times), the beret came to the fore and spread beyond the Basque country.
For the Anglo-Saxons, it quickly became a symbol of the French, thanks mainly to the Breton peasants who crossed the Channel to sell their onions. The “Onion Johnnies” wore a beret.
It’s mainly woven in black, the most worn color, but also in red. Red berets are reserved for special occasions, such as the férias in Bayonne.
Because of the way they’re made, berets must be uniform in color. Today’s multicolored berets are made up of “quarters” of different-colored berets that have been assembled.
Given its origin (shepherd’s headgear), the beret was only worn by men. It was in the 1930s that female stars began to adopt this fashion accessory: Greta Garbo, Michèle Morgan and later Brigitte Bardot. Emily in Paris didn’t invent anything!
What’s that little tail sticking out?
That little tail is called a cabilhou. Originally, it was the ends of the threads resulting from hand-knitting that made up this little tail, which characterizes the beret. This is no longer the case with machine knitting. As a result, the cabilhou is knitted on purpose: for the Basques, its absence would be unacceptable: cutting the cabilhou off someone’s beret is even considered a serious insult.