Hippie Chic

The end of the 1960s and early 1970s was an exciting time for fashion as the counterculture’s challenges to authority expressed itself in new ways of thinking about dress. The emerging hippie culture rejected the dictates of Paris haute couture, adopting instead an eclectic, highly individual look, mixing vintage and ethnic clothing with fashions inspired by contemporary psychedelic Pop art, nature, fantasy, and ethnographic art. For the first time, trends percolated up from the streets to affect ready to wear and even haute couture. “Hippie Chic” celebrates the designs of innovative boutiques and young designers and includes about 50 ensembles, in materials (crushed velvet, eyelet, satin, leather,), techniques and embellishments (tie-dye, patchwork, beads, and fringe), and styles from psychedelic to retro that made statements consonant with the era’s experimentation, theatricality, and freewheeling spirit.

Designed for: Granny Takes a Trip, Man's suit in three parts (jacket, waistcoat. and trousers)(detail). English, early 1970s. Rayon (?) burnout; silk velvet; acetate (?), satin weave; plastic. Museum purchase with funds donated by Doris May.