Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Beret - 50+ Years Later


On the right is the beret purchased around 1955 at "Sir Real" (get it?), a hip men's boutique in Chicago. My husband, the Francophile, was a student at DePaul University at the time. On the left is another beret purchased last week in Chicago at Hats Plus, a little store out in the neighborhoods of Chicago in a decidedly unfashionable area. Nevertheless, when we looked inside the new beret at the store - voila! - the same exact brand, Hoquy!

We were delighted to find that some good things in life are still available. The old beret is much faded, has lost the binding and never had the lovely lining that the new one has.

5 comments:

  1. Great find. Also, I'm calling Dad Sir Real the next time I see him.

    H

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  2. wonderful post, great photos!!! my first hat (paid for with my own $$) was a beret. they are truly versatile. you can wear them to the side or pulled down over your ears and forehead for warmth.

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  3. I wish I had a good beret like that! The thing is that I have great difficulty getting one that is large enough. It's one of the all time great hats! I hope the new one gets just as much wear at the old one did!

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  4. AWWWWK!!!! Guess where you can buy one of these berets? Amazon.com!! for $65 + $7 shipping!! I paid $2-$4 for mine in 1960. Have enough hats now, even without that, so guess I'll abstain....

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  5. XE: Yup, that's about what we paid for it with IL tax last week. But, if it lasts another 50+ years, that's less than a buck a year :-)

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