Have you ever wanted to channel the sublime grooviness of Grace Slick or Marianne Faithful? Have you ever just wanted to wear flowers in your hair and make sure you don't look silly? Or if you just want to look as cool and hip as vintage, Sixties divas, Sienna Miller and Kate Moss, then this is the article for you! Remember Sixties clothing reflected a self-made style that included earthy styles such as the Native or African American look. Bell bottom jeans were favored by both sexes and psychedelic colors were all the rage. For extra flare and color both sexes learned to tie dye shirts and other accessories. Men wore long hair and women chose to go braless. Sixties hippies were about freedom and questioning authority.
Steps
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Do a bit of research so you know the ideas behind the hippie movement. It was fueled by a want for peace and the clothes reflected the idea of peace between others and the environment. Check out some old pictures from the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival from 1969. Also check out some of the 'muses' from the 1960's, girls that rock stars couldn't live without, including Marianne Faithful (who was with Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones), Pattie Boyd (who was with George Harrison of the Beatles and Eric Clapton) and Anita Pallenberg (who was with Keith Richards and Brian Jones of the Stones).
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Hair: to achieve the perfect hippie hair, wash it, run a bit of product through and mess it up to get the "I just woke up and was too busy doing a Sun Salutation to do my hair" look. Then you can either just leave it (a la Sienna Miller and Kate Moss), or you can tie a paisley or psychedelic patterned scarf around it, braid small sections or put it up in a loose bun. You can really do anything with it, as long as its long and messy.
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Make Up: most hippies never bother with make up (they were all probably too stoned to think about it - this mean you should be too). If you like to play up your eyes, use a black kohl pencil to line them (use pencil because over the course of the day, it will smudge slightly giving a pretty look by nighttime) and three coats of mascara. (You should always use three coats, one to curl, one to thicken, and then one more for good luck). But if you want to go for a more rocker hippie look (yes, hippies are against make-up, but a lot of girls in the late 60s did this) use a grey-ish black eyeshadow on your eyelids, a kohl pencil or liquid liner above the top lashes and a few coats of mascara on both top and bottom lashes. If you like to play up your lips, just a bit of mascara with a lip colour that suits your own colouring should be fine. Don't use too much foundation as you will then just look like a weekend hippie (someone who only lets their hair down on the weekends, and throughout the week has a complete two-inch face of make up).
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Tops: for on top, try floaty blouses and shirts, a simple 70's style loose white shirt with a fringed vest looks so Sienna Miller but also very Anita Pallenberg. Try to source out some vintage patterned shirts or fabric to make into shirts. Always look in your local markets but go to others on the other side of the city. I've found a black silk Biba shirt, and a rabbit fur and suede bomber jacket, both under $30. Try to mix and match textures of fabrics, suede with silk, crushed velvet with leather and so on. In the Sixties they didn't care if it matched as long as it was 'Out there, man!'
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Bottoms: flared jeans are a cliche for the Sixties hippie but go there if you must. Try corduroy or velvet for pants. I know that my father had a pair of high waisted purple corduroy pants in 1969, say what you like but I'd wear them today! If you want to go for denim, try faded blue, (like the colour of those Sass and Bides that were popular about 7 years ago or so). Go for pants with colours you don't often see, green, purple, red even yellow are all very cool. Embroider jeans with Sixties logos such as the Peace Symbol. If you don't like wearing pants, then long, colourful, flowing peasant or broomstick skirts were also extremely popular.
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Dresses: go for fun dresses, ones that you would feel comfortable in going to a music festival. Everyone in the 1960's was obsessed with music and this was where the music festival was born, there was Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Isle of Wight, and more. Try for crochet and flowered dresses. The length is not strict. Maxi dresses made their first foray into young fashion in the Sixties as did miniskirts, so go with either depending on what you like.
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Shoes: leather sandals were all the rage, as were tooled leather shoes and flat boots for winter. Cowboy boots were popular too. Try and get some vintage ones. Mine are from the Missouri in the 1960's!
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Over the top: source markets and vintage stores for 60's coats and jackets. Fur was everywhere in the Sixties as the younger generation suddenly had it within reach. From experience I can tell you, nothing keeps you warmer. Rabbit is very, very soft, but is also liable to 'moult' after forty years; mink is not as soft as rabbit but is very high class, may be a little more expensive; fox is almost in between the two and is probably going to cost you. If you don't like fur or leather, stick to man-made. Velvet and crushed velvet was huge in the Sixties as was vinyl. Don't look down your nose at vinyl it can be very cool in the form of the maroon blazer hanging in my wardrobe, but choose vinyl carefully, don't go for black, it just looks like you were too cheap to buy leather.
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Accessories: lots and lots!! Go for scarves in prints and bold colours, even just a long piece of coloured velvet looks good (I told you velvet was big!) Tie plaited leather braids around your wrist and hair. Don't go for too much jewellery or you'll look like a bit of a try-hard rich hippie. If you're going to wear jewellery, make it count. Don't just wear a stack of thin gold bangles on one wrist, go for an embellished colourful jewelled one that people will ask questions about it. Don't forget the Love Beads or Peace Symbol jewellery either. Both were tres chic for the ultimate Sixties Hippie look.
Tips
- Have fun! Hippie chicks never moped around because they just broke up with their boyfriend, or because they were having a 'fat day' and couldn't fit into their favourite emerald green velvet flares, they simple went out and met new boys and put their favourite crochet dress on instead!
- For more inspiration, turn to traditional Indian, Tibetan, and Native American Culture. This can apply to clothing, music, and even food and medicine! That is where the original hippies got their inspiration from!
- Burn some essential oils and make your room smell good. If you're in a place that smells good, then you'll feel good and relax, perfect hippie/Sixties frame of mind.
- Get in the mood, listen to some good music from the Sixties, I'm talking Jefferson Airplane, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Doors, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the list goes on. Ask your parents what they listened to, trust me, it so not cool to diss your parents when it comes to the Sixties, they were probably really hip then!
- For parties, drape coloured scarves over your lamps to give the place a groovy feel (a concept loved by Keith Richards), just make sure they don't get too hot, you don't want a fire hazard on your hands.
- Stick up pictures of your favourite Sixties celebrities. For example, have pictures of Anita Pallenberg everywhere - now she was someone to look up to (fashion-wise that is, if you've done your research).
- Now that you look like a groovy modern hippie try this: