SECONDHAND CLOTHES AND TIE-DYED SHIRTS: ANTIFASHION AND THE HIPPIE INFLUENCE

All in Fun

Young people of the 1960s had started the decade with an air of optimism, a confident exuberance reflecting the prosperous American society into which they were coming of age. They had an unprecedented amount of social and financial freedom to develop their own identities—identities separate from those of their parents. This sentiment manifested itself most visibly in youthful dress. The mod look was cool; the mini was daring; unusual color combinations were exciting. Mostly it was a good-natured stand against the older "establishment," with no hard feelings.

Growing Consciousness

As the 1960s moved for-ward, with them came a growing consciousness of social concerns, including civil rights issues and controversial U.S. intervention in Indochina. Many young people, disgusted with what they saw as rampant materialism and the moral failing of American society, found ways to separate themselves as completely as possible from the older generation—the establishment—that represented it. One of those ways was a revolution against traditional fashion values. The mods and the new youth market in general had simply rejected the older generation's clothing and its fashion choices. The youth of the late 1960s instead rejected established fashion of any kind—particularly anything worn or accepted by the establishment—in favor of their own unorthodox uniform.

Hippies

The extreme of this revolution against fashion was found in the hippies or flower children. Some-times with a vengeance these young men and women retreated from materialistic society, adhering to their own moral views. An important aspect of this rejection of the establishment was in the way the hippies dressed themselves. Flowers, the hippie symbol of brotherly love, were often worn in the hair, but they also appeared painted, embroidered, and sewn onto buttons, shirts, and pants. Bell-bottom jeans, faded and dusty, were the basis of the hippie wardrobe. Wearing a T-shirt as outerwear was revolutionary at first, but when that seemed too tame, they were dyed in bright strident colors; later they were tie-dyed in undulating, psychedelic spirals and circles.

FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS

Denim pants were invented by Levi Strauss in the mid nineteenth century to cater to the needs of California prospectors. The highly durable material soon was adopted by laborers of all sorts, and for the next century denim jeans remained work clothes. Starting in the late 1950s, denim pants, or blue jeans, made a remarkable transition: they became the most popular kind of pants among young people, who helped make them acceptable in sportswear in America and around the world.

Several factors were behind the popularity of blue jeans during the 1960s. The hippies took up jeans for many reasons: they were inexpensive, required little or no care, and became more comfortable with wear. In particular, jeans were an antifashion statement. As Marshall McLuhan put it, "Jeans represent a ripoff and a rage against the establishment." Hippies were not the only ones to appreciate the down-to-earth nature of jeans; the establishment also began to favor them, as sportswear became increasingly casual and as unisex fashions became popular.

During the decade jeans appeared in a wide variety of styles—patched, embroidered, rolled up, cut short, faded, and so forth—each intended as a means of personal expression. Denim jackets, skirts, and other articles also appeared. Since then blue jeans have remained an integral part of American clothing.

Source:

Michael and Ariane Batterberry, Mirror Mirror: A Social History of Fashion (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1977).

Secondhand

The establishment seemed much too materialistic, particularly when buying new clothes. In-stead of continuing that trend, hippies often patronized secondhand shops. They claimed they bought clothes for utilitarian purposes only, rejecting the traditional associations of clothing with status and taste. Army-navy surplus stores, Salvation Army stores, and other thrift-type stores were popular sources. Along with conventional views of clothing quality, traditional notions of gender-distinct clothing were also discarded. Sandals were worn everywhere by both men and women.

Natural

But going barefoot was preferred. Part of the antifashion movement was a move back to naturalness. So much of fashion seemed artificially restricting as well as symbolic of the establishment's unnatural rules of stylistic conformity. The hippies moved toward an ideal of a more primitive, uncorrupted lifestyle. Hair was unkempt and usually grown long; young black men and women wore full Afro cuts. Young women wore little if any makeup. Going braless had been a radical choice for young women in the middle of the decade, but by the end of the 1960s it had become standard practice for some.

Cultural Escape

If Western capitalist societies represented materialism and an absence of morals, maybe other societies were better models to follow, the hippies believed. In fashion this meant a strong interest in the clothing of Eastern, tribal, and other ethnic cultures, including those of Native Americans and Indians. Ethnic jewelry and especially love beads abounded as did brightly colored, exotic-looking fabrics, often from India.

Hippie Influence in the Mainstream

Not every young person in the late 1960s was a hippie; in fact, most were not. But almost every person under the age of twenty-five was influenced by the hippies to one degree or another. The same antifashion trends embraced by the hippies were apparent—if to a lesser degree—in the moves toward naturalness and ethnic styles of the fashion establishment.

Stretching the Limits

School dress codes got in the way of natural expression sometimes, but they were often pushed to the limits. Whereas trying to wear a denim mini to foil the no-jeans-at-school rules of the mid 1960s had been a mischievous form of good-natured rebellion, antifashion at the end of the decade took on a new, much darker sense. More leeway was taken with grooming; long hair and no bra/no hose became, if not the standard, at least a common choice. If skirts had to be worn, they were often tattered, dirty, or secondhand, and shirts were worn untucked by both men and women.

High Fashion Attempts Hippie

Not everyone read the hippie look as the blaring antiestablishment message it was intended to be. Some of its aspects were considered charming by outsiders, if a little raw and rough edged. Put into the hands of experienced designers, some believed, it might even be worth something. So by 1968 top Seventh Avenue designers introduced new bohemian-inspired lines. Models appeared in Vogue and other high-fashion magazines wearing sanitized versions of patch-work skirts and flowered dresses, and pantsuits, blouses, underwear, and everything else, were elegantly tie-dyed.

Fashion Limbo

However, a three-hundred-dollar beige and plum Halston tie-dye pantsuit was not genuine hippie, and soon both designers and consumers realized it. The 1960s ended on a note of fashion uncertainty about when to trust a fashion authority. With that uncertainty came a generally tolerant attitude, even in high fashion, regarding clothing choices. Minis, maxis, midis, pantsuits, hot pants, and numerous other contradictory styles appeared, then disappeared.

Source:

Ellen Melinkoff, What We Wore: An Offbeat Social History of Women's Clothing, 1950-1980 (New York: Morrow, 1984).