Decoding the Store p135 Beret Hearts: A Vintage Hair Accessory Guide

The code “Store p135 Beret Hearts” isn’t a designer’s signature. It’s a shelf reference copied from an archival stock label. Before you read anything else into it, that distinction matters. Once you know the code is a storage marker rather than a brand, the piece itself becomes the evidence: the felt base, the heart appliqués, the clip hardware, and the way the beret sits on the head. Everything else is secondary.

Then there’s the “html” at the end of the title. It’s not a material, a maker, or a variation. It’s a web-page suffix leftover from a digital catalogue, repeated by resellers who copied the listing. Treat it as an accident of metadata and concentrate on the physical object.

What exactly is a beret-shaped hair accessory?

Unlike a full beret worn as a hat, a beret hair accessory borrows the silhouette and shrinks it. The piece is usually a stiffened felt or velvet disc, seven to ten centimetres across, with a clip or comb fixed underneath. Worn at the crown, the side, or the nape, it reads like a little hat resting on the hair. It has no deep crown and no band for the head; it’s an ornament, not a covering.

In the 1960s, when beehives and smooth chignons invited playful decoration, these small berets became a clever compromise. They gave the wearer the chic of millinery without disturbing a carefully set hairstyle. The fabric surface offered space for embroidery, beading, or in the case of this piece, heart shapes.

Reading the code: Store, p135, Beret, Hearts

The listing title can be broken down into four useful clues. Each one tells you something different about the object, and together they help you assess it in a second-hand shop or an auction photo.

• Store — the original retail archive or department store stockroom. It’s not a fashion house and not a maker.
• p135 — the tray, page, or inventory position in that archive. Different p-numbers usually point to different design batches.
• Beret — the accessory form: a flat, circular or crescent-shaped head ornament.
• Hearts — the decorative motif applied to the felt, most often cut from silk, velvet, metal, or a combination.

When a listing includes “html”, it simply means the description was generated for a web page. It says nothing about age, material, or origin. A good collector ignores the suffix and looks at the photograph.

A short British history of the beret in hair

The beret as a hat reached Britain in a serious way with French-inspired fashion between the wars, but the little beret on top of the hair belongs more clearly to the late 1940s and 1950s. Photographs of actresses and shop girls show the same gesture: a tilted beret pinned over a side-swept roll, or set at the back of the crown with a scarf underneath.

By the early 1960s, milliners had miniaturised the idea for young consumers. A clip-on beret could be sold in a small box, cost far less than a hat, and be changed with every mood. The p135 fits this moment. It has the simple geometry of 1960s Pop design, but the heart motif keeps it romantic — which is precisely why it survived in collections.

Materials and construction details

Most surviving beret hair accessories of this type start with wool felt or a wool-rayon blend. The felt is die-cut to a circle, crescent, or petal shape and then stiffened with a buckram underlayer so it keeps its silhouette when pinned. In the case of the Beret Hearts, the heart decoration is the point.

The hearts were often cut from a contrasting material — a glossy silk velvet against a matt felt ground. On later examples, small metal hearts were stamped, polished, and stitched or riveted to the base. If the hearts on your piece are uneven, with tiny differences in curve, they were probably hand-cut and hand-stitched. That’s a good sign.

The clip beneath the beret is equally informative. Mid-century British hair clips commonly used a spring-loaded metal fastening with a curved plate and small teeth. Test the tension gently: a good clip should open with a firm pinch and close against the felt without gaping. Rust at the hinge can be cleaned, but a broken spring is much harder to replace.

How to wear the p135 Beret Hearts now

The greatest strength of a beret hair accessory is that it needs very little help from the modern wardrobe. Because the p135 carries hearts, it works best when the rest of the outfit is calm. A plain knitted polo, a wool coat, or an oxford shirt will let the ornament do the talking.

Try placing the beret at the back of a low chignon. This is the most historically accurate position and also the most practical: the clip disappears under the hair while the felt sits like a small crown. For a sharper look, place it at the side of a deep side part, tilted toward the temple. With short hair, the same beret can be clipped diagonally at the nape, mimicking the way 1960s women wore it with beehives.

If you enjoy larger, more sculptural ornaments, the snake beret guide elsewhere on this blog shows how beret-shaped accessories evolved from Art Deco into later decades and how a strong silhouette remains modern.

What to check when you find one

Vintage hair accessories survive in different states, and the p135 needs a careful eye. Use this checklist before handing over money.

• Inspect the clip first. Open and close it once or twice. The teeth should meet cleanly, and the spring should not feel loose.
• Look at the felt base in direct light. Old wool felt can be fragile at the edges, and moths love it. Small pinprick holes near the rim are a common sign of age.
• Examine the hearts from the side. Layered hearts can be glued as well as stitched. If the layers are separating, ask whether it’s repairable.
• Smell the piece. A dry, dusty odour is usual, but a sour smell may mean it spent decades in damp storage. Wools and silks respond badly to prolonged moisture.
• Check the pin or comb teeth. The metal should be dark with age but not actively flaking. Surface patina is acceptable; active corrosion is not.

Caring for felt and heart ornaments

Once you own a piece, the goal is to keep it stable. Felt does not need frequent cleaning, and over-cleaning is the fastest way to damage it.

Use a soft clothes brush or a small hat brush to lift dust from the surface after each wear. Brush in one direction, lightly, and never press hard enough to distort the heart shapes. If the hearts are made of silk, avoid even light brushing over them; use a dry microfiber cloth instead.

Do not submerge the beret in water. If you must remove a mark, blot the area with a barely damp cotton bud and dry it immediately with a clean cloth. Water can pull the felt out of shape and rust the metal clip underneath. For stubborn stains, consult a milliner or costume conservator.

Store the beret flat in a tissue-lined box. Never hang it, since the weight of the clip will stretch the fabric. A small silica gel pack in the box helps in a British climate, but do not let it touch the felt directly.

What the p135 tells a collector

An archive code like p135 rewards patience. It lets you separate fact from listing fiction: the word “Store” is a clue about retail history, not a glamorous provenance; “html” is meaningless; and “Beret Hearts” describes the form and the ornament. In that way, the code is a small lesson in how to read vintage accessories generally.

When you find a p135 in the wild, the first thing to do is not to check the hearts or the felt. It is to open the clip. The clip tells you whether the piece was worn, how carefully, and how much work it needs. That five-second test decides everything else.