Beret: The Return of the Iconic Accessory
We talk about trends from the podium, which can be adapted for your wardrobe for the next six months. In the new issue we understand why the berets no longer have anything to do with the stereotypical perception of French women and what sources of inspiration the designers showed for the berets in the autumn-winter collections.
How it all began
The most promising accessory of the season brings to mind more than one layer of the most diverse images: from the incomparable Faye Dunaway in the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" to the girl Madeleine from the eponymous book, from the artists led by Pablo Picasso to the heroine of "Eugene Onegin" Tatiana Larina.
The beret has several versions of the origin. The most popular of them suggests to consider it a prototype of a Celtic headdress with a pompon on the top of its head. Priests, peasants, military men, grandees - depending on the course of history, reported on the position of their owner diametrically opposed things. During the peak of its popularity - in the XIX century - berets were made from brocade and velvet, and decorated with feathers, embroidery, precious stones, or all at once.
An important point in the modern history of berets is also associated with the beatniks, the generation of writers and musicians of the 50-60s, who wore them with black turtlenecks. The main elements of this image were subsequently reflected in cinema and in popular culture in general. Here, for example, is a scene from The Simpsons.
Beginning from zero, the berets remained on the fashionable periphery for a long time: despite the fact that they appeared almost every season at a fashion show at one or another designer, they were used, rather, only as a stylistic element. Huge fur hats in the “Russian” style, wide-brimmed hats and even (seemingly) different variations of caps made you forget about the existence of berets, leaving them outside the attention limit as something old-fashioned from a grandmother's wardrobe. The irony is that it was this cabinet that everyone needed at one moment.
How berets are back in fashion
At the time of the release of the first collection of Alessandro Michele as the creative director of Gucci, who was subsequently caressed by the fashion press, the berets could be seen in the pre-autumn Stella McCartney collection and in the autumn, but men’s from Saint Laurent. Thus, it would be logical to assume that the berets on boys and girls in the men's show Edie Sliman became the starting point in the triumphant return of berets. But it seems that, first of all, it’s still worth saying thanks to Michele and the success of his debut with exceptional stylization under vintage. The main income of the brand entrusted to him is the accessory line, and the red one takes for predatory 300 dollars, there is no doubt a potential sales hit. Considering that after this we saw the berets in the men's Gucci show (the pompon version is our favorite), and in the recent summer season show, they will stay with us for a long time.
What to wear
It seems that there are no restrictions. The same Edie Sliman offers to wear them with school dresses and tough leather leather jackets, Stella McCartney with strict coats, Vivienne Westwood with free coats, Luella Bartley and Katie Hillier in Marc by Marc Jacobs with everything in a row. Perhaps it is worth being careful, combining beret with obvious sporting elements, but everything is ambiguous here and depends only on one's own confidence: berets of calm colors can be combined with simple cashmere sweatshirts and even sneakers - hello from the 90s has not been canceled yet.
If you want to completely deviate from the classic images, we advise you to pay attention to the velvet options, like at the Luisa Beccaria show, or with a veil, like in Emanuel Ungaro, which fits perfectly into another bright autumn trend - new gothic. The only thing you shouldn’t exactly do is to try using the beret to repeat the cartoon image of the “Frenchwoman”, combining it with boats and a vest. He has not had any connection with reality for a long time, and we will only assume at a costume party.
Photo: Stella mccartney
