Boy Scout Uniform Garments: Berets

Figure 1.--Scouts around the world wear many different kinds of caps. Berets like those worn by these French Scouts are some of the most common.

The traditional Boy Scout hat was the lemon-squeezer hat designed by Lord Baden Powell. Scouts wore these hats for decades. Gradually different caps were introduced in various countries. One of the most popular proved to be the beret. The beret was for many years seen as a uniquely French cap. French Scouts wore berets from an early stage of the development of the Boy Scout movement. It was not until after World War II that Scouts in many other countries commonly began wearing them. The Beret has become the most common headgear worn by Scouts around the world.

Figure 2.--Many Boy Scouts in various countries after World War II began wearing berets instead of the traditiinal Scout hat. This photograph shows a Canadian Scout. Note the military look.

Style

French Boy Scots initially wore the beret much as school boys did, either pulled down or as a pancake. After World War II, however, as Scouts began wearing berets, they tended to wear it at an angle with "attitude," adopting a military style. Girl Scout, Guide, and Browie groups wearing berets, never it wore them at an angle with this military look.

Conventions

Only Scouts to my knowledge adopted the beret. I do not know of any Cub groups which wear berets. Brownies (Girl Cubs, the junior division of the Girl Scouts) in America, however, did wear berets--brown colored ones.

Countries

Austria

Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in Austria" wear blue berets.

Belgium

I assume Belgian Scouts like French Scouts wore berets, but I have no details on this.

Canada

Canadian Scouts wear dark green berets. I am not sure just when the beret was adopted by the Canadian Scout association.

England

English Scouts adopted black berets as part of the official uniform in 1969. English Cubs continued to wear the traditional peaked cap. The Scouts had been complaining about the lemon-squeezer hat because it was expensive and hard to maintain. English Scouts are now less interested in the Scout uniform, but generally speaking the English Scouts take uniform more serious than other European Scouts.

Figure 3.--Irish Catholic Scouts wear a light-blue beret. The Cubs, however, contnue to wear the traditional peaked cap.

France

There are several different Scout associations in France. They have many different uniforms. Many have traditiinally worn black berets, although uniform standards and the boys' interest in wearing a uniform has declined in recent years.

Ireland

Irish Catholic Scouts wear light blue berets. I'm not sure about other Irish Scouts. Some of the boys berets appear large and floppy. Irish Cubs continue to wear the traditional peaked cap.

Italy

Some Italian Scouts have wore berets, primarily black ones. Italian Cubs wear the traditional peaked caps.

Netherlands

Some Dutch Scouts have worn black berets. I'm not sure if this was an official uniform or a decision by an individual unit. As in other European countries, uniform standards among Dutch Scouts have declined in recent years.

Figure 4.--Several individual American Scout troops adopted a red beret beginning in the 1960s.

United States

Some American Scouts began wearing red berets in the 1960s. It was never the official Scout headgear, but it was sanctioned by the Boy Scout Association and a number of troops adopted it. American boys never wore the large floppy berets worn by some European Scouts. It was particularly popular in the 1970s and 80s, but has fallen out of fashion in the 1990s.