The declaration that 'hippie-chic' is back is greeted with wariness, caution, and a wince by most, me included. That's an understatement, it strikes fear into the very depths of my heart. I can remember those boho days of yesteryear, a haze of peasant skirts, circular metal belts, anklets and headbands, topped off with a clean face and bare feet. Sienna Miller was my style icon. I listened to the rolling stones and dreamt of, one day, going to woodstock. While these things may all still be found in my wardrobe, and my life, the world and me has, thankfully, moved on. You can't dress like a hippie your whole life.
However the trend at the moment is towards 'hippie-chic', emphasis on the chic. There's not a toe ring in sight with this reinvention of hippie style as designers take tye dye to a new level. Technicolour rainbows prints that seem to bleed into each other, tye-dye as embellishment and edging, luxurious materials and shapes taking the traditional hippie pattern from the garden to the party and clever manipulation of silhouette. Clothes that you would want to wear forever, and not just the 1960s.
What's the appeal of tye-dye? Well firstly it is always, regardless of what colours used, bright and sunny. The strongest of technicolour prints in saffron, turquoise, fuschia and lime is just as sunny as palest of pastels. Tye-dye is an instant mood-lifter, the way it denotes home-style D.I.Y, as well as the allusions to happy hippie times of yore, how could it not be uplifting? When you're wearing tye-dye you can take on the persona of a beautiful earthy girl without a care in the world other than whether there will be a rainbow today.
Josh Goot is one of the leaders in tye-dye chic, his dresses gorgeously flowy in bright shades and lightweight chiffon. Sometimes he mixes incredible brights to make a techno rainbow, others he manipulates shades of blue to make an asymmetrical one shouldered dress that resembles the most beautiful water puddle i've ever seen. I own a josh goot tye-dye skirt, black and white and chic all over. When you walk in it, it billows out around you like a fashionable cloud. Matthew Williamson, always a master of colour (he's not the creative director at Pucci for nothing), showed a recent resort collection that is very much in the Goot trend of tye-dye, bright and bold and beautiful. Rich, deep shades of green, purple, blue and yellow combine together with creamy off whites in his patterns, sewn in modern and trendy shapes. The coveted pant shape, tapered and pleated harem, is reinvented in his gorgeous milky tye-dye. A mini dress with elevated shoulders and pleated collar becomes a little more relaxed with a classic print.
Never one to be the proverbial sheep in the pack, Christopher Kane has done his own spin on the trend. For him tye-dye is all-or nothing, his resort 2010 collection was shown with murky brown galactical tye-dye prints with matching platform wedge heels. Gorgeous french navies marry their chocolate brown and taupe cousins compounded with the kind of quirky cool shapes that we know and love from Kane. Cutaway panels at the shoulder and under the bust? Yes please.
At the other end of the spectrum is Jonathan Saunders, with tye-dye as the embellishment and not the whole. Tye dye panels, edging, piping and hems break up block colour for Saunders, adding a pop of watery colour to sombre black. You want a party dress that is part hard edged business, part fun in the sun, Saunders is the man for you. The best dress from his resort 2010 collection is a simple black shift with several panels across the stomach. At first glance it looks like block colour, but it is actually contrasting tye dye in block colour. Simple and fabulous.
How do you wear tye-dye? Unlike it's 1960s antecedent a spliff and dreadlocks are not obligatory. A fresh face, sunny complexion and un-fussy hair are, however. Mix it up with edgy accessories (think sky high heels with bondage embellishments like Christina Centenera on the sartorialist), lots of modern jewelry and a tailored jacket. The tye-dye, gloriously exuberant, will shine out like the remnants of a better, more liberated past.
A time warp you can keep grounded in the present so that there are no back to the future-esque woes? Now that's something worth dyeing for.
Josh Goot S/S 09
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Matthew Williamson Resort 2010
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Christopher Kane Resort 2010
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Johnathon Saunders Resort 2010
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