Beret season
by Tatjana Jovanoska Stojanovic, Feb 23, 2020
I don’t know when it started, but all of a sudden, it seems that berets are everywhere. Of course, it’s winter and berets are a wintry kind of hats. Also, as fashion is on a 20-year-cycle, we must be at the pinnacle of their popularity again. Regardless what fashion gods dictate, berets are my perennial winter staple.
Really, what is there not to love? They are universal, low maintenance, and easy-to-style type of head gear.
Berets are a sort of hat that many people can pull off, even the ones, like I, for whom most hats don’t work. Maybe it’s the fact they are brimless, and a little roomy, or that they have that little point on top, which makes them look cute, but they seem to flatter many different head and facial types.
Berets are also forgiving, particularly if they are wool: they don’t lose their shape if (god forbid!) one doesn’t place them nicely into one’s closet. In my considerable experience with this lovely article, I have never seen it wrinkled, even after being left in a corner of a drawer, underneath some shawls and scarves. (Not that something like that ever happened to me.)
My favorite thing about them, though, is that there is no right or wrong way to wear them. Whether they are worn like a beanie, almost to one’s eyebrows, perched on top of one’s head, pulled to the side, or pulled to the back, all configurations work. Of course, in my tenure with berets, I have had several spirited discussions about the rules of beret-wearing, but I remain unconvinced that there is only a single, proper manner of wearing them.
Beret, a little hat that could, so stylish and effortless, and so simple. A sartorial perfection, one might say.