I would simply look foolish.  I considered buying one in St. Malo last year, but my wife gently dissuaded me.

Come to think of it, no kind of hat suits everybody, does it?  I've got a naturally gormless expression, which is simply enhanced by wearing any kind of hat, even a simple watch cap.

Bryan Pringle?  Good heavens, that brings back some memories!

I wore one at the weekend and my brother kept on saying "ooh Betty" to me. I am reluctant to let moronic figures from popular culture get in the way of my style quest.

GG

One or two of us went around looking very glum at the end of the 70s.  We read Sartre and Camus and smoked unfiltered French cigarettes.  We imagined hip girls might be attracted to us.  We were mistaken.  They wanted boys who looked like girls instead.  Spandau Ballet were just tuning up.

Bebop man, bebop. Few men have earned the capacity to sport a beret with respect and without derision: Monk, Gillespie, some French dudes and now, GG.

If anyone should sport a beret on here, I supposed it should be me.

But sadly not, as I looked a complete twat.
I compensate with a black Baker's Boy cap...

I used to love Gorey's art when I was a kid. I'd sit for hours and copy loads of his illustrations. A true visionary, in my book.

Aye. You can fair see the influences in many a modern animator. I think my mum bought me Gorey's Alphabet book after we went to see 'A Nightmare Before Christmas'.

Must read up on the man himself. Haven't thought about him for years. Thanks for reminding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrq3Vugxqqo

There is a place in the real Ivy League (tm)campus world for the beret.

At Yale and Penn, a few snooty profs would be seen sporting tweeds or black overcoats with berets and coded British collegiate scarves, a symbol of Oxbridge affiliations...

Two profs in my orbit who did this were indeed Rhodes Scholars... which is not to say they weren't pretentious, pseudo intellectual butt jockeys.

A few other older eminent profs also come to mind.  Guess they were D.Litt Cantab or Oxon too.

Is this style seen at the old schools in the UK or is it an American Anglophile pretense?

Aside from baseball caps, hats are rarely worn in the street nowadays.  Anything with a brim immediately draws stares, the beret with it's perceived eccentricity, even more so. It doesn't fit with the low key, downplayed approach in my book.

I'm with the Beatnik. I own various hats but I've gravitated to just two; a cotton Baker Boy cap for the summer and a wool one for the winter.

^ Slip, slap, slop mate!